Where The Sidewalk Cracks
by nicolasamaria
Summary: Puck and Rachel get left behind when the Glee club takes a trip to Disneyland. They decide to roadtrip it together and well ... madness ensues.
1. Start: Lima

**AN: This isn't my 'pregnant Puckleberry story' or the third installment of my Somebody to Love trilogy. Those are still in the works. This is just a little something I started writing on the train on my way home from Thanksgiving at my dads. It's my new happy fic because I have a feeling the Adventures of Puck and Finn might take a slightly darker turn, as do most of my stories -_-. Anyways, herein lies a short story about what it would be like for Puck and Rachel to go on a road trip together. The first bit is just a little dialogue and then it goes to the rest of the story. As always, read and review.**

**And please, enjoy!**

**Nicole.  
**

"There is no way I am … You can forget it!"

"Noah!"

"Look Berry, Singing and dancing is cool and all but what's not cool is being stuck in a car with you for 33 hours!"

"You can't be serious! Noah, this is much bigger than your dislike for me! This is Glee! They need us!"

"... No! I can't do it!"

– – – – – –

Mr. Schuester waited anxiously in front of the school as students started arriving. It was early on a Saturday morning and they were all going to head out early for California. The McKinley High Glee club had been invited to preform at Disneyland, which was a first for them. All of the kids had been excited and he had gotten a bus and they were going to leave a week before they had to preform because it took two days to get there and then they wanted to enjoy their time and see the sights. The first to arrive was Artie who told him he just wanted to be sure that the bus had the proper requirements for a wheelchair. Then there was Tina, Matt, Mercedes, Kurt and Mike who all got there at the same time, all of them half asleep except for Mike who was practically vibrating with excitement,

"It's Disneyland guys!" he said happily as all the other kids gave him weird looks. Then Santana and Britney showed up, both wearing Uggs and drinking Starbuck's coffees, their duffel bags from cheer slung over their shoulders. Finn and Quinn showed up next, Quinn leaning her head against Finn shoulder as he practically dragged her to the bus,

"Mornin' Mr. Schue." he greeted and Mr. Schuester nodded at him with a smile. Everyone was seated on the bus but Mr. Schuester knew everyone wasn't there. He got out his roster,

"Okay, Let's do roll call!" he said as he stood at the front of the bus, "Abrams?" Artie raised his hand and let out a timid 'here'. Mr Schuester smiled at him,

"Okay, Berry?" he was met with silence. He frowned, Rachel wasn't there yet and she had been the one he expected to be there first.

"Does anyone know where Rachel is?" he asked. No one said anything so he sighed, deciding to move down the list and worry later, he got through most of the list,

"Puckerman?" he called out. When no one answered he looked up from his list, not spotting the familiar mohawk anywhere on the bus,

"Puck's not here either?" he asked. Finn shook his head and Mr. Schuester sighed before finishing with the list. It was nearing 8 o'clock and neither of the two had shown up or called. Finn had tried to call Puck's cell but there was no answer and when Artie called Rachel all he got was her answering machine. He didn't want to leave without them but time was wasting and if they didn't leave soon they'd be very behind schedule. He looked down at Emma, who was sitting in the front, disinfecting her seat,

"I think we may have to leave." she looked up at him and then nodded with wide eyes,

"If you don't think they'll show up." Mr. Schuester ran a hand through his hair and then nodded to the bus driver as he swung into the seat next to Emma,

"Alright, let's go."

– – – – – –

"Wake up, my love." Someone purred in his ear. Puck buried his face deeper into the pillow, it was much nicer than the one he had at home. He felt cold hands stroking down his bare back and was instantly aroused, he rolled over to see one of his cougar. Tammy … Cammy …. he could never remember their names. She had worn him out last night and he'd fallen asleep in her bed, which he didn't do as a general rule but her husband was away on business and she was really hot. He grabbed onto her waist and roughly dragged her down on top of him,

"Don't call me that." he growled and then leaned up to kiss her on the mouth, hard. She moaned into his mouth and scraped her fingernails along his chest. Puck rolled over and pined her under him, grabbing her wrists in his hand and placing them above her head,

"You have to hurry, my husband will be home before noon." Puck rolled his eyes, there was no way it was noon, he glanced over at the clock and then fell off her bed and onto the floor,

"Shit!" he got up on his knees and stared at the red numbers on the clock on her bed side table. 

_9:55 _

"What'?" she asked, bewildered he grabbed his pants, trying to remember if he had worn boxer the night before or gone commando. He was pretty sure it was commando. He tugged them on and then stood up, looking around for his shirt,

"I'm suppose to be on a bus." he muttered and then spotted his shirt on the edge of her bed. He reached for it but she snaked her hand out and hid it behind her back,

"That's not very nice, you got me all … riled up and now you're just going to leave?" she asked with a pout. And then he was annoyed,

"Lady, are you listening to me?" he paused, "Of course you're not." She only used him for sex, it's not like she cared about his life or anything. He usually didn't mind but there was no way he was missing a free trip. He reached around her and yanked his shirt out of her grasp, pulling it on and then grabbing his shoes from by her bedroom door,

"Bye." and he chuckled at her shocked face as he closed the door and tugged on his shoes, hopping from foot to foot as he tried to put them on as he walked through the living room. He was out the door by the time she'd realized what was happening and chased after him. He gave her a wave as he pulled out of her drive way.

– – – – – –

Rachel threw things into her suitcase frantically. She needed at least 10 pairs of underwear right? She _was _going to be gone for 7 days.

… Okay, so she needed to bring 16 pairs and double that amount of socks. She had already filled up a suitcase full of skirts and cardigans and another of shoes and blouses. Rachel needed to be prepared for all occasions, what if it rained? That's why she had rain boots. But what if there was a pool? Well, she packed two swim suits. And then all of her facial cleansing products and hair styling tools. She was close to tears by the time her daddy knocked on her door,

"Rachel honey? It's nearly 10." Rachel gasped and looked over at the clock on her desk. She ran over to it, stumbling over the clothes and shoes that hadn't made it into her luggage,

"No!" she cried, falling to her knees in front of the tiny and offending clock. Mr. Schuester had said in the itinerary that the bus was leaving at 7:30 sharp! How had she lost track of time? The last she checked it was only 7. She went over to her door and yanked it open, hyperventilating,

"I'm late!" she cried at her father who just stood there was a cup of coffee in his hand. She ran back over to her bed and threw whatever was left on it into her remaining suitcase. She grabbed the two cases she could carry and then shoved them at her father, who had taken a step into her room and set his coffee down on her dresser,

"Take these to the car!" she went back to her other suitcase, which was the size of the other to combined and yanked it off the bed and onto the floor. She pulled on the handle but it wouldn't budge. She let out what could be considered a battle cry before placing her foot on the edge of the suitcase and then yanking harder. She heard her father sigh and when she looked up he was standing next to her, he pushed in the button on top of the handle and then pulled it up with ease. Rachel gave him a sheepish smiled before pushing past him and then flying down the stairs,

"I'm so late!"

– – – – – –

It'd taken Puck all of fifteen minutes to go home and throw some clothes in a duffel bag, grab his guitar and then head to the school. When he got there no one was anywhere and he was really hoping it was because he was early and they all were late. He got out and leaned against his truck, waiting patiently and silently praying that he hadn't missed the bus. He nearly jumped out of his skin when a light blue Prius zoomed into the parking lot, screeching to a halt in the near empty parking lot.

Puck watched in amusement as Rachel Berry scrambled to get out of the back seat. She nearly fell out of the car. She glanced over at him and then took in a deep breath,

"Where is everyone? Am I too late? Are they gone? I hadn't realized that I'd gone over the allotted time I had set on myself for packing. I was actually packed last night but then I realized that I was ill prepared in case of a numerous amount of emergencies so I had to repack everything and then it was 10 and now I'm here and only you're here. Why are you only here?" Puck shrugged his shoulders and then frowned,

"They did not leave me here." he muttered, pushing himself off his truck. Rachel's mouth dropped open,

"They wouldn't!" she shrieked, clutching her hand to her chest. Puck would have laughed at her dramatics if he hadn't been so pissed off. Her father's stepped out of the car, coming to stand by Rachel,

"Is there a problem?" the short one with the glasses asked. Then Rachel started crying, not like wailing or anything, just sniffling,

"They left without us!" she cried, Puck groaned and ran his hands over his face, well there went his free trip to Disneyland. And then before he knew it Rachel's dads were talking about alternative methods of transportation or whatever and then they were inviting Puck over to their house for breakfast so they could mull over what they were going to do.

And he accepted. Damn it, he was an idiot. But it was kind of worth it cause they made him pumpkin spice waffles and gave him a huge glass of milk and he wasn't really listening to them as he shoveled food into his mouth but he would catch every other word. He heard 'plane' several times and 'gas mileage' a few. Rachel had stayed in the other room, yelling on the phone to someone. When she came into the kitchen her face was red,

"Mr. Schuester said they've been driving for a few hours already and they can't turn back around!" she shrieked. Puck winced but the next bite of waffle more than made up for Rachel's annoying voice.

"... the two of you could take a little road trip." Puck had barely caught onto the last bit of that sentence and he nearly choked.

"What?" he coughed out but Rachel was smiling like a lunatic and then she dashed back into the other room. Apparently her fathers found this amusing because they started chuckling and the black one in the sweater vest patted him on the back. Rachel returned a minute later, clutching a few pieces of papers in her hand. Her dads left the room for a moment and she thrust the pages at him,

"Here." he stared down at map and directions and he felt his mouth drop open,

"2,243.26 miles?" he asked incredulously.

"Noah-"

"There is no way I am … You can forget it!"

"Noah!"

"Look Berry, Singing and dancing is cool and all but what's not cool is being stuck in a car with you for 33 hours!"

"You can't be serious! Noah, this is much bigger than your dislike for me! This is Glee! They need us!"

"... No! I can't do it!" Rachel glared at him and he glared right back. Puck wasn't afraid of anything, except maybe being completely alone with Rachel. He briefly remembered the few short days they had dated and how, when they hadn't been making out, she'd stare at him and talk non-stop and it took everything he had not to duck tape her mouth.

"Rachel … I am not driving 2,244 alone in a car with you." he said calmly. She let out an indignant cry and then actually stomped her foot,

"Noah Puckerman!" he rolled his eyes but that didn't stop her, "They won't let me go alone!" she hissed, looking over her shoulder in the general directions her dads had gone.

And what happened next … well he wasn't really sure what he was thinking. He was mostly thinking about how fucking badly he wanted to go to Disneyland. He'd been once, when he was a kid. His whole family had went, including his dad and it was like the only good memory he had of the loser. And then he was thinking that Rachel wasn't bad to look at and as long as he tuned her out he could probably deal with being alone with her for awhile. And then he was thinking about Quinn and how she was pregnant with his baby and how Finn was probably stupid enough to let her go on all those roller coasters. And Puck knew for a fact that pregnant women weren't supposed to go on roller coasters, he'd read it in a book.

So then he was shrugging his shoulders and nodding and Rachel was squealing and he was mentally kicking himself because he remembered she liked to sing in the car.

– – – – – –

"No _fucking _way." he hissed. Puck was in the passenger's seat of Rachel Berry's tiny purple Prius. She and her parents had matching cars, seriously? His knees were up on the dashboard and even if he pushed the seat all the way back there was no way he wasn't going to not get a leg cramp. She swatted his arm,

"Language, Noah."

He growled at her, "Berry … If I'm going with you, we're taking my car."

"But mine has a higher fuel efficiency!" she cried, "And it's more environmenta-"

"I don't give a shit! I don't care if it can save a small village in Ethiopia! I need more room." he gritted out.

"Yeah, for your ego." She muttered under her breath and he grinned. Rachel Berry had just taken a dig at him. Maybe this road trip wouldn't be so boring after all. Rachel's fathers were watching from the front porch as Puck clambered out of the tiny car,

"Ugh … we're gonna take my truck." he said lamely. Her dad with the glasses, Lewis, frowned but her other dad, John, elbowed him. Rachel struggled to get her suitcase out of the trunk of her car so Puck gave in and pulled it out and then tossed it into the bed of his truck,

"I-I-I have breakable things in there!" she stammered, he just rolled his eyes as he took the next suitcase and put it with the other. Rachel just pouted with her arms crossed over her chest, she had the driving directions gripped tightly in one hand and the handle of her purse in the other. When Puck was finished loading her suitcases in the truck her dad John walked over. He handed Puck a fat wad of money and then smiled,

"For gas." he explained and Puck nodded mutely, staring down at the most money he'd seen … like ever.

"And the emergency credit card, it should cover your expenses." he was talking to Rachel now, handed her the tiny black plastic square. Rachel took it without a word and leaned up to kiss her dad on the cheek,

"Thank you daddy." then she smiled over at her other dad and he opened his arms and she gave him a hug,

"Be safe."

"Of course and don't worry, Noah's going to be with me, right Noah?" she asked, emphasizing his name. Puck nodded wordlessly and slipped the money into his pocket. He shook both her fathers hands, promising something about looking out for Rachel or whatever. He could tell her dad Lewis didn't really like him but John didn't seem bothered. Rachel climbed into his truck and he helped her up since her dads were still watching. Rachel waved to them as they retreated back into the house and Puck started the car. As soon as they pulled out of the drive way she was yapping a mile a minute,

"And I really appreciate this. I know the two of us don't get a long but the fact that you would put aside our differences to-"

"Okay Berry, rule number one," he interrupted and Rachel's mouth snapped shut, "Talking is kept to a minimum. We only talk when we have to. Rule number two, don't touch the radio, you might lose an arm. Rule number three, if we get to California alive, we will never speak of what happened on this little road trip of ours, understood?" he asked and Rachel gaped at him,

"Why not?"

"Because, then people will know that I was like … nice to you."

"Oh, and I assume you have a reputation and image to protect?"

"Exactly." he said and smirked over at her, "Thanks for understanding." She huffed and crossed her arms over her chest, turning to face the front. Then she started singing loudly and he felt the smirk vanish from his face in an instant.

He was in for a very, very long drive.


	2. Indiana

**AN: Woooow, that was crazy, I woke up to a ton of story alerts! Anyways, this story will be updated every Monday, next chapter Puck and Rachel end up in a hotel room together. Kneel Before Todd, your review made my day! Thanks so much! As always, read and review!**

**Enjoy!**

**-Nicole**

**-- -- -- --  
**

_"I can show you the world, shining, shimmering, splendid ..."_

"Shut up!" Puck growled and Rachel blinked at him,

"You don't like Aladdin?"

"No!" he shouted, exasperated. She sighed loudly before crossing her arms and staring at out the window. Finally, for the first time in four hours it was completely quiet. Puck was very proud of the fact that he hadn't killed her yet. She talked on and off, he didn't really pay attention to any of it, it was pretty easy to ignore her. Then the singing started, at first it was just quiet humming, which bothered him because it made him want to fall asleep. Then she started singing under her breath and he could barely make out the words. He tried to glare at her, hoping she'd stop.

She didn't. Then she had resorted to belting out Disney songs at the top of her lungs, she'd gotten through all the songs from the Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast and she was starting on Aladdin and that's when he had snapped,

_"A whole new world … a new fantastic point of view." _she started was doing it on purpose. When he looked over at her, she smirked at him and then sang louder,

"Rachel! I swear if you don't shut up right now, I am going to pull over and leave you on the side of the road."

"You wouldn't!"

"Wanna try me?" he asked with a cocked eyebrow and started to move over to the shoulder. She squeaked and he steered the car back into the correct lane. They'd been driving on the same stretch of highway for a while and it was getting really boring. When he glanced over at her again she was pulling out her iPod, he grinned triumphantly, Rachel Berry was no match for his impressive tactics. But the quiet only last for so long,

"Puck! Oh my gosh!" she laughed and he frowned over at her, she wiggled her iPod in front him,

"Look what song came on just as we're about to cross into Indiana?" Puck squinted at the small screen,

"Who the hell is Meg and Dia?" he asked but Rachel wasn't listening, she was bopping her head to whatever music she was listening to,

_"I can do whatever I want like you, like you ... She began to die, Indiana that's not right, Indiana that's not life..." _she sang and Puck groaned, she was annoying as hell and resilient too. And she knew he wasn't gonna leave her anywhere, since her dads would probably kill him. Well if she wanted to play …

He switched on the stereo, turning up the volume just loud enough so that he couldn't hear her sing anymore. Rachel's head whipped around and he chuckled as her mouth dropped open in surprise. But like he said … she was resilient,

_"So pale and white, determined in rust and ruin, a dew drenched hour ..." _she sang louder, her voice carrying over the sounds of Aerosmith's _Walk This Way_. Puck just turned up the volume again until the song drowned out her voice,

_"'Cause the best things of lovin' with her sister and her cousin, only started with a little kiss like this!"_

_ "I can do whatever I want like you, I can do whatever I want like you, I can do whatever I want like you … like you!" _

_ "So I took a big chance at the high school dance with a missy who was ready to play. Wasn't me she was foolin' 'cause she knew what she was doin' ..."_

_ "Then she began to fight. Indiana make it mine, Indiana make this mine!" _They went back and forth, he would turn up the volume and then she would retaliate by singing louder and louder. It finally got to the point where Puck couldn't turn up the volume anymore and he was pretty sure his ear drums were about to explode but Rachel still managed to sing louder than the radio. He couldn't take it anymore, he switched off the radio and just as a smug smile started to spread on Rachel's face he reached across the cab and yanked her earphones out of her ears.

"Hey!" she cried, scrambling to grab them back from him. He tugged on them and her iPod slide across the seat and he snatched it up before she realized what he was doing. He tucked the slender pink rectangle into the pocket of his jeans,

"You're barbaric." she hissed.

"Thanks."

"That wasn't a compliment!" he rolled his eyes, they were going to kill each other. He took in a deep breath and grasped the steering wheel tightly in his hands,

"Okay, I'll make a deal with you." he said through his teeth. Rachel scowled at him, he noticed that the way she had her arms crossed over her chest pushed her boobs up slightly, giving him a not so unpleasant view. He shook his head,

"If you can sit there quietly until we get to Indianapolis then ..." he trailed off, he should have thought his plan through,

"We can rehearse?" she asked and when he looked over at her she had perked up, her arms dropped to her sides. He mourned the loss of cleavage momentarily before nodding reluctantly,

"Fine."

She squealed.

– – – – – –

By the time they got to Indianapolis Rachel had fallen asleep and Puck was starving. Puck was surprised he lasted four and a half hours without eating, usually he ate every two hours, he was a guy after all. Rachel had fallen asleep fifteen minutes after they'd made their little 'deal', he figured it was because she had nothing better to do.

It was getting close to 5:30 and if he didn't eat soon he would probably die. Not that he was being dramatic or anything. He spied a Burger King and gas station off to the side of the freeway and got on the exit ramp, speeding slightly. He jerked to a stop in the parking lot, jolting Rachel awake,

"What!" she shrieked and he winced, it'd been so nice when she was asleep and not talking. She looked around frantically and he laughed,

"Calm down Berry." She blinked at him as she took in her surroundings and then she slumped down in the seat,

"Oh ..." she said quietly, her ears reddened with embarrassment. Puck thought it was cute and then mentally slapped himself. Rachel Berry was **not **cute.

"I'm gonna get some food." he started to get out of the truck but stopped when her hand grabbed onto his shoulder,

"But won't this take away from our travel time?" she asked and he rolled his eyes, gently prying her hand off of him,

"Dude, I'm starving." he said simply and hopped out of the truck. He made his way to the fast food restaurant before he realized Rachel hadn't gotten down. He groaned and walked back over to the passenger's side and opened the door,

"Are you coming?" he asked, irritated. She flushed and nodded before reaching out a hand to him. Puck stared at it for a moment, not really sure what she wanted him to do with it. Then he realized that she wanted him to help her down. He grabbed her hand roughly and pulled her down, she slid down his body and he was suddenly very aware of the fact that she was a girl. Her little hands were on his chest and her mouth was inches from his and if he leaned in just slightly …

He stumbled back and Rachel cleared her throat as she smoothed out her skirt,

"Thank you." she said a little breathlessly. Puck smirked and shrugged her shoulders as he turned around and sauntered up to the door,

"Whatever." Being that close to her reminded him of when they had been dating, her eager lips and long legs and tiny little schoolgirl skirts. Damn Rachel Berry for being a hot piece of ass. He stared at the menu until Rachel was standing next to him,

"You know what you want?"

"Uhm-"

"Great." he stepped up to the counter and the guy behind it gave him a bored smile,

"Welcome to Burger King, what can I get for you today?"

"Uh, Double Whopper no onions."

"Medium or large?"

"Large, but can I get a chocolate milkshake instead?"

"Yeah." the guy looked at Rachel who was biting her lip nervously, she tapped her fingers against the counter,

"Uhm … can I get a salad?"

"What?" Puck asked, a little annoyed, "Why the hell would you get a salad at Burger King?" Rachel blinked at him,

"I don't know, I've never eaten here before." He gaped at her,

"You can't be serious."

"I'm very serious. Dad and daddy stress that fast food is the reason why America is becoming one of the most obese nations in the world and I-"

"Give her a Whopper Junior." he told the guy, then he glanced at Rachel, "You like onions and pickles?" he asked and she shook her head,

"No onions, no pickles." the guy nodded, his fingers pushing something on his register. Rachel frowned at him and opened her mouth to speak but the guy gut her off,

"Medium or large?" he asked again. Puck frowned and scratched his chin before sighing,

"Uh, you got smalls?" he asked and the guy nodded, not looking up. Rachel poked him hard in the ribs,

"Ow! What the hell?"

"I can order for myself."

"Clearly." he deadpanned and Rachel huffed, crossing her arms over her chest, giving him another great view down her shirt. The guy told him his total and Puck unfolded some of the bills that her dad had given him,

"That's for gas!" Rachel cried, Puck ignored her and handed the money over. The guy handed over a number and handed Rachel her cup,

"Thanks." he said dully. Puck took Rachel's cup from her and started to move to find a table but Rachel didn't, she had her hands clasped in front of her, she rocked back on her heels,

"Where are your facilities?" she asked. The guy got a confused look on his face,

"Huh?" he asked and Puck snorted,

"She means the bathroom." the guy nodded in understanding and pointed to the back of eating area,

"Back that way." Rachel nodded in appreciation and Puck chuckled,

"Can't you talk like a normal person?" he asked. She rolled her eyes before strolling away from him. He found a table and sat down, stretching his legs out in front of him, he was stiff from driving for so long. They called their number while Rachel was still in the bathroom, so he picked up their food and sat it on the table before going to get her drink. He stared at the soda options they had and then filled her cup with grape soda. When he got back to the table, Rachel was sitting there primly, carefully unwrapping her burger.

"It's not going to bite you." she jumped as he slide in across from her. She continued as though she hadn't heard him and he watched in amusement as he unwrapped his own burger. He took a huge bite and Rachel winced,

"Must you eat like a caveman?" she asked and he rolled his eyes as he ripped open a packet of ketchup with his teeth. Rachel took a tiny nibble out of her burger and then her eyes kind of glazed over and she took a huge bite. He barely had a chance to blink before she was stuffing her face. He thought she kind of looked like a chipmunk, the way her cheeks were puffing out.

"Don't forget to chew." he commented dryly but Rachel didn't seem to hear him. She grabbed some french fries,

"Oh my gosh, this is delicious." she said around the food in her mouth. He'd never seen Rachel eat like that … well, he'd never really seen Rachel eat at all.

"And you wanted to order a salad." he took another bite of his burger, which was almost gone by now. Rachel had devoured hers within seconds and was now focusing on her fries, she giggled as she reached across the table to dip them in his ketchup,

"Thank you for saving me from that mistake." He was a little alarmed that she felt comfortable enough around him to just use his ketchup, it was like … a couplely thing.

"No problem." then she seemed to realize that there was a soda sitting in front of her because she grabbed it and started sucking on the straw and just watching her made his pants feel kinda tight,

"Grape soda." she said happily and he shifted uncomfortably, hoping she wouldn't notice that he still remembered it was her favorite. Rachel was finished before Puck, which surprised him, and then she started stealing his fries,

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. I don't think so." he snatched the fries she'd stolen out of her hand just as she was about to put them in her mouth, stuffing them in his own,

"Noah!" she cried and he moved his food closer to him,

"You ate yours, this is mine."

"Don't be such a child."

"Don't steal my french fries." Rachel leaned back and pouted at him but he didn't care. Just because she was hot didn't mean she got to eat all his food. He took his time then, savoring the french fries, taunting her with them. He made it seem like he was having the best orgasm with his life as he was eating them, just to piss her off.

"Oh stop it." she grumbled and he smirked at her. When he felt completely stuffed he leaned back and patted his stomach,

"That's better." he sighed and Rachel sat up straight,

"Are we going to leave now?" he scowled at her,

"Wait a second …" he muttered and grabbed his milkshake, he took off the lid and downed about half of it. Then he groaned and smacked a hand to his forehead,

"What?" Rachel asked, her voice worried. He chuckled quietly,

"Brain freeze." he explained and she frowned,

"What?"

"Brain freeze … are you serious Berry? You know, when you drink something really cold really fast and then your head hurts?" She shook her head and he stared at her, how in the hell had she never had a brain freeze before? He glanced down at his milkshake before thrusting it at her,

"Here, chug."

"What? Why?" she took the cup from him and looked down at it,

"So you can get a brain freeze."

"Why would I do that? You said it hurts."

"Come on Berry, live a little." she looked at him wearily before chugging it like he told her to. She set the cup down and then grasped at her forehead,

"Oh my gosh!" she cried and rubbed at the bridge of her nose. Puck laughed heartily and Rachel glared at him,

"That was dumb." he continued to chuckle, he couldn't believe she'd actually done it, "Can we go now?" she asked irritably. Puck nodded, still laughing as he got up. She stalked ahead of him, yanking open the door to the restaurant and letting it almost hit him as it swung back. He had quieted down as he got into the truck,

"I fail to see how that was amusing." he shook his head and let out a long sigh as he started the truck. He checked behind him before he backed out, resting his arm along the back of the bench seat. Rachel didn't say anything as he got back on the freeway and he was kind of waiting for her to remember that he promised to rehearse with her earlier. But she didn't and the quiet was beginning to creep him out,

"Uh … you can pick a station if you want." he muttered, motioning to the radio. Rachel blinked at him in surprise before smiling, she fumbled with it and then grinned,

"I love this song." Puck listened closely and then groaned,

"No, Berry ..." he tried but she shook her head and turned it up louder. N'Sync blasted loudly from the speakers and Rachel sang along,

_"Ain't no lie, baby bye bye bye ..." _He looked over at her and she smirked,

"You're trying to kill me."


	3. Illinois

**AN: So! I got bored and I was in the mood to write happy stuff, thus came this chapter. It's mostly on the tender side than the funny but I like it. Anyways, this will still be updated on Monday also and Puck and Rachel accidentally end up in a clothing optional park. Is that telling too much? Eh, whatever. As always please read and review!**

**Enjoy!**

**Nicole**

**-- -- -- -- -- --  
**

It was nearing midnight and Puck was on the verge of passing out. He was so tired that his right arm was cramping and the skin just below his eye was twitching. He glanced over at Rachel, who was fast asleep and curled up against the window with his jacket as her pillow. She's past out around 10, right after they'd finished rehearsing. Unfortunately, she eventually remembered their deal.

"Berry." She didn't move. They were on an open stretch of highway and he was falling asleep at the wheel,

"Rachel." he said, louder. She sighed in her sleep but didn't wake. He groaned before he pulled onto the shoulder, jerking the car to a stop. Rachel jolted awake again, she looked around sleepily,

"What's wrong?" she asked, frowning. Puck hated to admit it, but she actually looked adorable. Her hair was all scrunched up to one side and she had a confused look on her face,

"I'm tired."

"Well … uhm ..." she struggled, "Do you want me to drive?"

Puck scoffed, "Can you drive stick?" Rachel shook her head and he laughed,

"Then no, I don't want you to drive."

"But it can't be that hard-"

"Obviously, you've never driven one before." he deadpanned and Rachel bristled,

"I'm a quick learner."

"And I'm way too tired to teach you."

"Well then what do you want to do?" she sounded annoyed now. Puck gave her a tired smile,

"There's got to be a motel somewhere around here." Rachel glared at him for a moment before sighing and reaching down to grab her bag. Puck rubbed at his eyes, trying to keep them from drooping shut,

"Okay, there's a … motel after the next exit." she muttered as she looked down at her Blackberry. Puck nodded and started the truck.

– – – – – –

"Welcome to the Belleville motel, what can I do for you?" asked the balding man behind the desk in a bored voice. It was a dingy little office that was dimly lit and smelled like a cat. Puck rubbed a hand across the back of his neck,

"We need a room." he muttered and the guy perked up immediately, setting down the Star magazine he had been reading,

"Alright then."

"Preferably something with _two _beds." Rachel interjected. The guy looked mildly amused but said nothing as he flipped through a binder.

"I'm afraid we don't have any rooms available with two beds. Just one queen." Rachel scowled and opened her mouth to protest but Puck cut her off,

"We'll take it."

"Puck!"

"Berry, I'm tired and I want to go to sleep. Now will you pay the nice man?" She glared at him for a moment but nodded and he gave her a pat on the back,

"I'm gonna go sit in the car." He heard her scoff as he walked out. He had left the truck running and he plopped himself down inside, waiting for her. He had just started to doze off when she climbed back in,

"Room 212." he nodded sleepily and squinted at the numbers next to the rooms.

"Did he say where it was?"

"In the front." They found their room easily enough and Rachel got out and hurried over so she could open the door, muttering under her breath,

"What was that?" he asked and she blushed, shoving the key into the lock and swinging open the door. Puck trailed after her, hauling his duffel bag and her three suitcases with him.

"Were you planning on moving to California?" he asked as he set the things down once he'd gotten inside the room. Rachel switched on the light and he laughed as she grimaced,

"Oh god." she moaned, clearly unhappy. It was exactly what you'd picture a motel room to look like. Ugly carpeting and a bible on the night stand. Puck didn't care, he flung himself down on the bed, burying his face in a pillow,

"Why are you so tired?" Rachel asked, he looked up to see her standing over him with a frown. He sighed,

"Maybe because, unlike some of us, I didn't get to sleep for most of the drive." Rachel rolled her eyes and put her hands on her hips. He rolled over onto his back,

"Plus, I only got four hours of sleep last night."

"That's not even close to the recommended ei-"

"Yeah, yeah. I know."

"Well what were you doing?" she asked and Puck groaned inwardly. He did not want to talk to Rachel about his … sexual prowess.

"Stuff."

"What kind of stuff?" he simply cocked an eyebrow at her. She tilted her head to the side, studying him for a moment before realization spread over her face and she turned bright red,

"Oh." Puck just grinned at her as she stood there awkwardly. She bit her lip, "Uhm, I'm just going to go change ..." she turned around abruptly and headed for the bathroom, dragging in one of her suitcases with her. Puck stared up at the ceiling and contemplated just falling asleep fully clothed but his stomach growled loudly and he remembered he hadn't eaten since Burger King. So he hauled himself off the bed and went over to knock on the bathroom door,

"Hey Berry, I'm gonna go check out the vending machine."

"Okay!" she called through the door and Puck grabbed the key before leaving the room. The vending machine was a few doors down and all it had was potato chips and those Hostess cupcakes. He got four bags of chips and two packages of cupcakes. As he was walking back to the room he wondered if he should have gotten Rachel something to eat too. He popped open a bag of chips and then shoved a handful into his mouth as he opened the door to their room.

"You didn't want anything did you?" he asked as he turned around. He nearly dropped everything he was carrying. Damn, why did Rachel Berry have to look like a freaking sex goddess or whatever. She was just standing there in a silky tank top and tiny black shorts and her hair was all loose around her shoulders and Puck felt the blood from his brain drain to another part of his body.

"No, I'm fine." she said quietly, nervously clutching her hands in front of her. He picked his jaw up from off the floor and hastily pushed passed her so he could dump everything on the bed,

"Ah … you sure?" he asked, scratching his head, "'Cause I got chips and those …" he pointed to the cupcakes, "those are really good." Rachel reached down and fingered the cupcakes, giving Puck a fantastic view down her shirt. He cleared his throat and then took a few steps away from her, he was not going to think about Rachel Berry like that. Ever.

– – – – – –

Rachel sat down on the the edge of the bed, crossing her legs as she pulled apart the plastic wrapping. She looked up at Puck, he was staring at her with an odd expression on his face,

"What?" she asked and it seemed to snapped him out of his train of thought because he shook his head slightly. He turned around and grabbed his duffel bag, then he tossed it on the bed next to her. She watched him as he shrugged off his jacket and then dug through his bag, pulling out a pair of dark green sweats. Then her mouth dropped open as he yanked his shirt over his head and kicked off his shoes.

"Noah!" she cried, her face flushing red. He glanced down at her, seemingly uncaring that he was stripping down right in front of her,

"What?" he asked and she bit her lip. A smirk spread over his face and his fingers went to the button on his jeans. She refused to look away from his face as he pulled down his pants. He chuckled quietly before pulling on his sweats but Rachel was still fidgeting uncomfortably. He was still shirtless and her eyes couldn't help but wander across his impressive physique. Defined abs and broad shoulders and his skin looked surprisingly soft.

"See something you like?" he asked cockily and Rachel's attention snapped else where. He laughed again before tossing his bag down on the floor and plopping down on the bed next to her,

"Aren't you going to put on a shirt?!" she cried, horrified. He eyed her for a moment before rolling his eyes and reaching down into his bag. He pulled out a plain white t-shirt and tugged it over his head,

"Happy?" he asked once he'd gotten it on. She nodded and then took a bite of the cupcake that had been previously forgotten about. Puck scooted back so that he was propped up against the pillows and then proceeded to eat all of the chips and the other cupcakes. Rachel watched him with both awe and disgust,

"How are you not sick to your stomach?" she asked, scrunching up her nose. Puck just rolled his eyes as he stuffed the last bit of cupcake into his mouth,

"Did you call your dads?"

"I've been sending them hourly updates by text." she informed him and his mouth dropped open and then he grinned,

"Right, well … I'm gonna pass out now." he said as he unscrewed the bottle of water she had given him. He took a long drink and Rachel watched as his Adam's apple bobbed up in down with every swallow. She stood up abruptly, what was wrong with her! She was practically drooling over Puck. Puck! Of all people that she had to be stuck driving across country with it had to be him.

He didn't seem to notice her watching him as he adjusted the pillows behind him and then got under the blankets.. He closed his eyes and then cracked one open,

"What?" he asked and she sighed, frustrated,

"Where am I suppose to sleep?"

"Uh ..." Puck patted the bed beside him. Rachel's mouth dropped open in horror.

"What?" she asked and then paused, "You know if you were a real gentleman you'd sleep on the floor."

"I guess it's a good thing I'm not a gentleman then." Rachel glared at him but he just tucked his hands behind his head and looked up at her with a lazy grin.

"Fine." she snapped and stalked over to the bed. She pulled back the covers and slid gracefully onto the bed,

"But you better stay on your side because I swear if I feel anything I will-"

"Okay Berry. Good night." he interrupted her and when she was completely tucked underneath the covers he reached over to turn off the light. Within minutes he was asleep, Rachel listened to the sound of his breathing as it became even. _Thank god he doesn't snore_ she thought to herself before turning onto her side, her back towards him.

She was just barely dozing off when the bed shifted and she felt his arm slip around her. She started and glanced over her shoulder at him, he was still asleep.

Rachel was kind of afraid to move. She didn't want to wake him up but she didn't want his arm slung across her either. She sighed and glared at the wall, this boy had no sense of personal space what so ever. She eventually decided against waking him up and moving his arm and fell back asleep.

When she woke up a few hours later, his arm was still wrapped around her shoulder, his large hand covering both of hers. She'd never actually been this intimate with a boy without any kissing involved, it was actually rather nice. He was warm and his chest was pressed up against her back and she felt safe, odd as it was. She spent the next twenty minutes falling in and out of consciousness. When she was finally actually awake she just lay there, waiting for him to wake up.

Rachel would never tell anyone that she actually kind of liked Puck. They hated each other but he had offered to drive with her all the way to California and she figured that kind of made them friends. Although he would probably deny it, vehemently.

She felt him stir behind her and then his arm tense, she turned her head slightly and tried not to jump when she bumped noses with him,

"Hi." she said quietly. He stared at her for a moment, like he was trying to register everything in his mind, before he pulled his arm off her,

"Sorry." he muttered and rolled over onto his back. And then the moment was gone. Rachel squeezed her eyes shut, she shouldn't be having 'moments' with Puck. She rolled off the bed and onto her feet, staring down at him as his eyes drifted shut again. She gasped when she saw the time on the clock next to the bed, it was almost 8! She grabbed her pillow and then chucked it at his head, he jumped up after it hit him and glared at her,

"What the hell?!" she pointed to the clock and he turned to glance at it, "Shit." he muttered and tossed the blankets off him.

"You do realize this means that we've lost approximately … four hours of-"

"Would you just shut up and start getting ready?" he snapped. Rachel huffed and stuck her nose in the air as she stalked over to the bathroom, slamming the door shut behind her. She turned on the water and quickly showered, nearly jumping out of her skin when Puck banged on the door,

"Come on Berry." she sighed and got dressed, opening the door to find him standing there, waiting, "About time." he grumbled, brushing past her.

"But-" she started but he was already stripping down. She bolted from the bathroom, only returning when she heard the water turn on again,

"Can I please finish getting ready?" she asked. Puck grunted a reply that she took for a yes so she went back in and brushed her teeth and then combed her hair and braided it. She heard the water turn off and turned to see him standing there with a towel wrapped around his hips.

"You mind?" he asked and she felt herself blush as she stepped out of the bathroom. She made the bed because what else was she going to do when there was a naked boy in practically the same room as her. She adjusted the pillows, trying to make them sit perfectly on top of each other.

– – – – – –

Puck watched as Rachel adjusted the pillows over and over again. Maybe she had OCD. He cleared his throat and she jumped about a foot in the air. He chuckled,

"Ready to go?" she nodded wordlessly and Puck took a moment to look her over, she was wearing jeans and a t-shirt. He'd never seen Rachel wear anything other than little girl skirts. He motioned with his hand for her to walk out in front of him. He handed her one of her suitcases and then grabbed the rest of their stuff,

"This is ridiculous, who needs this much stuff?" he muttered and she threw an annoyed glance at him before gingerly setting her suitcase in the bed of his truck. She winced as he tossed the rest of it in. He held his hand out,

"Key?" she handed it over to him, "Okay, wait in the truck." he told her and then jogged over to the office. He returned the key to the guy, who simply raised an eyebrow at him,

"Did you enjoy your stay?"

"Uh … sure?" Puck said but it came out sounding more like a question. The guy sighed and shook his head and went back to reading his magazine. When Puck got back to the truck Rachel was texting furiously on her phone,

"Everything okay there Thunder Thumbs?" he asked and Rachel frowned at him,

"What?"

He rolled his eyes, "Nothing." He started the car and and backed out of the parking space, "Who're you texting?"

"Oh, Kurt. He said that they're already almost to California. You know why they're already almost to California?" he winced, she sounded annoyed.

"Uh-"

"They're already almost to California because they didn't stop for the night." she ranted and Puck groaned loudly as he got back onto the freeway,

"Gee, I'm sorry but I figured it'd be better that we didn't crash because I fell asleep at the wheel." he said through his teeth. Rachel crossed her arms over her chest angrily and stared out the window. It was quiet and that was starting to creep Puck out so he switched on the radio, a woman's soulful voice carried out from the speakers. He heard Rachel sigh and when he looked over at her she had relaxed a little.

Puck would never admit it out loud but there was some sort of sexual tension going on between he and Rachel Berry.H e as just better at hiding his appreciation for her female form that she was of his. He caught her ogling him when he had his shirt off, he was just grateful that Rachel seemed to be totally oblivious to the fact that he looked down her shirt every chance he got.

"Uh … look about this morning with the … arm and the-"

"It's fine." she sad quickly and then after a pregnant pause, "I didn't mind." Puck almost hadn't heard her she said it so quietly. He smirked,

"It's okay Berry, most women find it hard to resist me." he said cockily and she looked over at him unimpressed,

"You're disgusting."

"No babe, I'm a stud."


	4. Missouri

**AN: So this resort is actually in Michigan but for the purposes of this story I put it in Missouri and, seeing as I have never been there before, I have no idea if any of this is accurate so I apologize ahead of time. Next up Puck and Rachel take a detour in Tulsa and take a trip to the Tulsa State Fair. **

**Anyways, I am just shocked at the amount of reviews this story has gotten, thank you all so much. I'm trying to decide if I should do something special for every 50 reviews or something, like a special mention in the story. If you guys think that'd be a good idea, let me know and I'll come up with something. As always read and review!**

**Please Enjoy!**

**Nicole.**

**-- -- -- -- -- --  
**

"Would you just admit it already!"

"Admit what?!"

"Admit that little Miss Perfect got us lost because she has no sense of direction. At all." Puck gritted out as he drove along an empty stretch of road. They weren't even on the right freeway anymore.

"I have excellent navigational skills! You just don't listen!"

"You said to get off on the next exit!" he yelled as he glanced around at their surroundings. Nothing but empty fields. When he looked over at Rachel she gave him a guilty look and sighed,

"Well I would look for directions on my phone but it seems to have died."

"Yeah, out of all that crap you brought you forgot your phone charger. Geez, Berry, isn't that like numero uno on your check list?" Rachel scowled at him but he didn't care. He was pissed. They were lost in the middle of Missouri and had no food in the car.

He was going to die. Hungry and alone. Well, Rachel would be there but she would probably be too busy yelling at him to notice that he died. No one would be there to resuscitate him.

His stomach growled. Rachel was going on and on about something. All he heard was the noise the parents made in the Charlie Brown cartoons. Wah wah wah.

"... and obviously your phone is of no use. It doesn't have internet access, not that we'd get a signal out here." Puck groaned and slapped a hand over his face, they had been driving for 7 hours and she had been awake for all of it.

"I guess we'll just have to-"

"Civilization!" Puck cried and Rachel hit her head against the window, startled. Puck didn't care, he was too excited at the sight of a group of buildings a little ways up the freeway.

"Puck … I don't know if that's-"

"We're just going to ask for directions Rachel. Or do you like driving around aimlessly?" he snapped and Rachel sucked in a breath before nodding,

"Okay fine."

– – – – – – –

"Turtle Lake Resort ..." Rachel said slowly as she sat in the truck, eying the main building warily. Puck sighed and then looked over at her, jutting out his bottom lip slightly, trying to pout. It made her giggle, uncontrollably, for a good minute.

"Okay, let's go." They both got out of the truck and Puck hurried ahead of her. He held the door open for her when he got there because he figured he should at least try to be nice. She gave him a small smile and entered first. It was like the living room of a house that had been turned into an office. No one was in the room and Puck frowned as he looked around the tiny space,

"Hello?" he asked loudly and they both jumped when a woman in her mid thirties poked her head out from around the corner,

"Oh! Hi there! I had no idea you were going to be here this early. I'm sure I marked down your tour for 4 but … it's alright." the woman said as she made her way into the room and sat down at the large desk in the middle of it. She glanced at her computer before grabbing a couple of pamphlets off the table and handing them over,

"Alright, please follow me." she instructed and Puck was so confused he just followed after her, Rachel trailing behind him,

"Now as I'm sure you've read, first timers stay their first night for free but all nights after that are a thirty two dollar fee." The woman rattled on as she led them out onto a dirt path and past a large lake. It was beautiful and peaceful and-

"Whoa." Puck stopped and Rachel bumped into his back,

"What?" she hissed, annoyed but Puck was staring at two hot cougars who were walking up the path towards them. Totally and completely naked.

"Oh my god." Rachel gasped and Puck felt his open mouth turn into a grin. The women passed by him with a smirk and a slight sway of their hips and Puck pulled a full on Exorcist as he watched them. Then Rachel was tugging on his arm, dragging him away from the naked women.

"Oh, don't be shy you two. I know that it can seem awkward at first but it gets better after awhile." The woman said over her shoulder. Puck glanced down at Rachel who was flipping through the pamphlet the woman had given her. She gasped,

"Oh my god, Puck! This is a … a nudist resort!" she whispered loudly. Puck chuckled and rubbed at his chest, the thought of being surrounded by hot naked women didn't bother him at all.

"Over to your right you'll see our clubhouse which houses our pool and hot tub." hot naked and wet women, even better. Puck was suddenly assaulted with the image of a dozen women and him in a hot tub, he was literally buried in boobs. He was grinning and then Rachel poked him hard in the side,

"We need to escape!" she cried and Puck rolled his eyes, he wasn't leaving. He could get seriously lucky if he played his cards right. Then he saw a dude.

A naked dude. With his junk hanging out. Just walking through the grass. Puck was going to be blind.

"AGH!" He cried and slapped a hand over his eyes, moving to stand behind Rachel. The women turned to look at him, alarmed,

"Sir?" she asked with a frown. Puck took in a deep breath and shook his head,

"Uhm, we're not here for a tour, we just got lost and stopped to ask for directions." he blurted out, his hand still over his eyes. He felt Rachel shaking beside him and when he peeked down at her, she was laughing. He dropped his hand,

"What the hell Berry?"

"You're so predictable." she muttered as she ceased her giggles. Their tour guide was blinking, obviously confused,

"You're not the Anderson's?" she asked and Puck shook his head,

"Ah no."

"We like being clothed." Rachel added and slapped Puck's arm when he raised an eyebrow at her suggestively.

"Oh, I'm so sorry. I just assumed." The woman turned red and Puck squeezed his eyes shut again as another naked dude passed by.

– – – – – –

"So where did you get lost?" the woman, Jenny, asked as she sat herself down behind her desk. Puck cleared his throat,

"Uh, we were headed down Route 44 and I guess we took a wrong turn or something." he said and looked pointedly at Rachel but she ignored him.

"Ah, I see well you'll just need to go back down the 47 and then take a left onto the 50 and then another left and you'll be back on Route 44." Jenny explained as she wrote it down on a little piece of paper and handed it over to Rachel who tucked it away in her pocket.

"Where are you headed anyways?"

"Well, I think we're gonna drive to Tulsa before we stop again." Rachel told her and Jenny frowned,

"Oh my … that's an eight hour drive." Puck froze and felt his mouth drop open slightly,

"8 hours?" he asked and then did the math in his head, it was 4:30 then and in 8 hours it would be … 1:30.

"Shit." Puck muttered and ran a hand over his face, "Berry ..." he started, looking down at her and she glared at him,

"No! We're losing time! We can't keep stopping! We'll never get there by Saturday!" she cried, Puck tried pouting again and he knew he was winning when Rachel looked like she was going to laugh.

"Well, the two of you are welcome to stay here for the night. First night for first timers is free." she reminded them.

"You can't drive my truck Rachel." he reminded her softly and her shoulders slumped in defeat. She nodded at Jenny who smiled brightly and started typing away at her computer.

– – – – – –

"Well, this is much nicer than last night." Rachel muttered as she stepped into their room before him. They were in the main lodge which was off to the side of the main office and Rachel made him carry all of their stuff. Again.

"Yeah ..." he looked around the room, it was definitely an improvement, the carpet wasn't ugly and he didn't see a bible anywhere, not to mention that there were two full sized beds. He felt a little twinge when he realized he wasn't going to be sharing a bed with her. But it was fleeting, it was better that there was two beds. No repeats of the spooning that happened the night before.

"Are you hungry?" Rachel asked as she floated into the room, inspecting everything as she went. Puck set her stuff down next to the bed closest to the window before going over to the one by the bathroom and laying down,

"Uh, starving actually." she turned to face him with her hands on her hips,

"Well, let's go find something. I think Jenny said something about a cafe in the clubhouse." Puck just raised an eyebrow at her,

"I'm not going back out there."

"Why not?"

"Because … Berry ..." he said as he sat up, "There are naked dudes out there." Rachel rolled her eyes,

"How is it any different from the showers at school?"

"Because … it just is!" Rachel sighed dramatically before stomping past him and to the door,

"I think that you're being ridiculous." she muttered before she yanked open the door and then let it slam shut behind her. Puck groaned as he let himself fall back onto the bed. Roadtripping with Rachel Berry may have been one of the worst decisions of his life. He reached into his pocket and dug out his phone to see if he had a signal,

"Score." he murmured when he saw that he had two bars. He flipped it open and texted Quinn asking her how everything was going and then tossed it onto the bedside table. He got comfortable, the comforter smelled like clean clothes and it made him feel at home.

He dozed off for like 15 minutes before the tantalizing smell of pizza woke him up. He cracked open his eyes to see Rachel struggling with two boxes of pizza and a liter of Coke. She knew him all too well, it was kind of creepy,

"Are both those for me?" he asked with a grin and she rolled her eyes as she set the pizza down on the edge of his bed. He bolted up and reached for them, grabbing one box and then leaning back on the pillows,

"Hello and come to papa." he mumbled as he opened the box and grabbed a slice. He folded it in half and then took a huge bite, it scalded the roof of his mouth but he didn't care. He looked up to see Rachel watching him, amused,

"What?" he asked around the pizza in his mouth. She shook her head and kicked off her shoes, sitting down on the bed next to him and reaching for the other box of pizza. She handed him the soda and he set down his pizza to open it. He went to take a swig straight from the bottle but Rachel glared at him,

" Don't be a pig." she scolded and then handed him a plastic cup. They ate in silence after that, Puck inhaled an entire pizza by himself and then ate half of the other one. He drank most of the soda too but Rachel didn't complain. She kind of ate like a bird,

"Man, you eat like a chick." he commented as he patted his stomach and tossed the pizza box to the foot of the bed. Rachel frowned,

"I am a chick."

He rolled his eyes, "Yeah, trust me, I know." Rachel's cheeks turned a pink color and he laughed, "But seriously, why do girls eat like that? I appreciate a girl who can chow down." Rachel took a slightly larger bite of pizza than the last one and he shook his head,

"No Berry. Like the burger you practically inhaled at Burger King, now that was impressive."

"And entirely unladylike." she snapped and he sighed,

"Who cares if you're a lady. Just be normal." Rachel stared at him for a long moment, not saying anything. She set down her pizza slowly,

"I'm not normal, am I?" she asked, she looked vulnerable. _Shit, don't be a dick right now Puck. Don't make her cry because it's just you and Berry alone in a hotel room and they'll never find your body._

"That's not what I meant. It's like … I dunno … you're always so ..."

"Abrasive?" Rachel offered and he nodded even though he had no idea what it meant,

"Sure, whatever. You're always trying to prove something to everyone. Just be yourself … I guess … is what I'm trying to say." He stumbled over his words and he wasn't sure if they made sense because he wasn't really sure what he had been saying but Rachel seemed to understand.

"Oh." She stood up then and started cleaning up. Puck helped her and was kind of freaking out because she was being so quiet. It was so un-Rachel like. He had plopped back down on the bed and was leafing through the pamphlet they had been given again when he noticed Rachel standing next to his bed,

"What's going on Berry?"

"Uhm … well I just wanted to say … thank you … for driving with me. And that you … you should try being yourself too because I know you put on this whole charade of being some kind of tough guy who doesn't care. But I can see that you do care and I think it's a good thing." Puck stared up at her, trying to process what she had just said. Then he rolled his eyes and leaned back onto the pillows,

"Whatever Berry. You just don't know. Being a stud is hard." And then she hit him with a pillow. He blinked, surprised and then glanced up at her. She was biting her lip and smiling and he felt a smile spread over his face,

"Ohohoho, you are so gonna get it." he grabbed the pillow out from underneath his head and chucked it at her. It smacked her in the face and she nearly toppled over,

"Puck!" she cried as it fell into her hands. She looked from the pillow to him before hitting it with him again and then once more,

"Hey! Rachel!" he held up his arms so the pillow wouldn't hit him directly in the face. She continued her attack and he got on his knees and snaked an arm around her waist, gently tossing her down on the bed and then tickling her,

"Noah … stop … I can't … breath." she said as she giggled but he continued his assault on her rib cage. She writhed beneath him as she tried to escape, laughing harder as his hand moved to her thigh. He stopped when he realized the position they were in.

He was on top of her, one knee between her thighs and his hands on her waist, teasing the hem of her shirt. She was flushed pink and her hair was splayed all around her and he suddenly had the urge to kiss her. He hadn't kissed her in a month.

"Noah?" she asked and his eyes moved from her mouth to her eyes.

"Huh?"

"What are we ..." she trailed off and he noticed that she had been looking at his mouth as well. He jerked off her then and rolled over onto his back,

"Uh, sorry." he muttered lamely and then ran a hand over his mohawk before swinging his legs off the bed and standing up,

"You wanna … watch TV?" he asked, motioning towards the television. She looked disappointed for a second before putting on her mega-watt smile and nodding,

"Sure."

– – – – – –

Rachel laid in bed and stared up at the ceiling in the dark. Puck was confusing her. She didn't like being confused. She liked being sure of every little thing that was going to happen. She knew he wasn't sleeping and turned to look at his bed,

"Noah?" she asked,

"Hm?" he murmured sleepily. She bit her lip, she wasn't exactly sure what she had wanted to ask him in the first place, she just wanted to hear him talk.

"Is it really hard being a stud?" she heard herself ask and he chuckled,

"Nah, but it's hard to keep the women off me." She rolled her eyes,

"Can't you ever be serious?" she asked with a laugh. He didn't say anything and she worried that maybe she had offended him.

"I can be." he said quietly, "I know people think I'm just a Lima Loser, going no where in life or whatever. But I want to get out of Lima just as much as you do." Rachel sucked in a breath,

"I'm sorry, I wasn't trying to imply that-"

"I know Berry. Just thought I'd let you know that there's more to me than … meets the eye." Rachel smiled,

"I'm beginning to realize that."

"Yeah well … go to sleep, we have to get up early tomorrow." She smiled and snuggled deeper into the bed,

"Good night Noah."

"Night Berry"

– – – – – –

When they left the next morning Rachel had to take Puck and guide him by the hand because he refused to open his eyes and risk seeing anymore naked men. They said good bye to Jenny and then Puck finally opened his eyes so he could load their stuff into the truck,

"Well at least now you can say you've been to a nudist resort." Rachel said with a playful smile. Puck just rolled his eyes as he helped her into the truck,

"Yeah, I don't think so."


	5. Oklahoma

**AN: So I have no clue if any of this is accurate. And it's a little lame because I'm writing it at 2 in the morning and my brain doesn;t function well when I'm tired. Also, I've been a little sick lately. Next up is karaoke! As always, please read and review! You guys are so awesome with the amount of feedback I've been getting for this story and I'd like to thank all of you. I would like to reply to all your reviews, but there's just so many!**

**Please enjoy!**

**-Nicole.**

**-- -- -- -- -- --  
**

"This is ridiculous." Puck muttered as shifted gears only to move about two feet and then jerk to a stop. Rachel was pouting next to him, looking out at the long line of cars ahead of them. They'd been stuck in stop and go traffic for the past 30 minutes.

"I don't understand, was there some kind of accident?" she asked, trying to peek over the row of cars in front of them. Puck snorted,

"I don't think you're going to be able to see anything."

"What? Why not?"

"Because I can't even see past all this and you're a midget."

"That term is completely derogatory! … And I am not!"

"Whatever you say, Berry"

"You're infuriating!" he grinned over at her and then flipped on the radio. She flipped it off and glared at him,

"I am not a midget."

"Okay … geez." he muttered and flipped the radio back on. She flipped it back off. Now he glared at her,

"What the hell?"

"I don't feel like listening to the radio."

"What?" he asked, gaping at her, "Since when?"

"Since now! You've made me agitated and I would simply like some quiet."

"Well damn ..." he breathed, a grin teasing at his mouth, "If you want quiet Berry, you got it." he sat there quietly as the traffic ceased to move and he could see Rachel fidgeting out of the corner of his eye.

"I can't do this!" she cried after a moment and flipped back on the radio and started humming along with the first song that came on. He sighed and ran a hand over his face,

"What the fuck is going on?" he asked himself but Rachel answered anyways,

"Obviously were stuck in traffic."

"Shit, I know that. I want to know why." he mumbled and then changed gears as the cars started to move. It was 7 o'clock and it was getting dark and if the traffic kept moving at the snail pace it was, he was gonna have to pull into another motel and he didn't wanted to waste time.

Driving in the car with Rachel Berry for 12 hours was torture. Especially since she'd been awake the whole time. She'd make little snide comments about his driving and then complain about the radio stations he picked to listen to. He had never wanted to throw himself out of a moving vehicle more in his whole life.

They neared an intersection that the freeway crossed through and saw traffic control hard at work. Rachel and Puck were in the right most lane, close to one of the people in the bright yellow vests. As the inched forward, Puck reached over across the cab and cranked down the window,

"What are you doing?" she asked with a frown and he sighed,

"Figuring out what the hell is going on." he mumbled as they pulled up just far enough so he could call the guy over. The man motioned to another one of the traffic control group, who promptly took over his job as he went to stand next to the truck,

"Yes sir?" he asked,

"What's going on here? We've been in bumper to bumper traffic for the past thirty minutes." Puck grumbled and the man frowned,

"Well it's the last day of the state fair sir, lots of people come out 'cause there's fireworks." he explained and Puck groaned,

"We don't want to go to the fair, we're just passing through." Rachel said quietly and the man sighed,

"Well I'm afraid that might take awhile. See, you're in the turning lane to go to the fair grounds. I don't think you'll have any luck in weaving your way through this traffic."

"Then what the hell are we supposed to do?" Puck snapped and the man sent him a sympathetic smile,

"The only thing I can suggest is to turn here and then go through the fair parking lot and out of the exit. I think it may be your only option." Rachel smiled at the man who gave her a nod and then waved quickly at the both of them before trotting back to his post. Puck slumped back into his seat,

"Well, fuck me." he mumbled.

"No thank you." Rachel quipped and he snorted before switching gears again and flicking on his turning signal as the line of cars moved.

– – – – – –

"You know I've never been to a fair before." Rachel murmured as she looked around at all the cars packed into one area. She turned to look at Puck, who was biting his lip as he maneuvered his way through the parking lot,

"Never?"

"No, have you?"

"We used to go every year before … before my dad left." he breathed and Rachel gave him a small smile before looking back out the window. A young boy with a huge bag of cotton candy and a ballon hat passed by and she gasped,

"How cute! And look! He has a little balloon sword too!" she cried, watching as the boy pushed a huge wade of blue cotton candy into his mouth.

"Yeah … cute ..." Puck muttered and she turned to look at him,

"What kind of stuff do you do at a fair?" she asked innocently. She knew they shouldn't stop, but she couldn't help it. When opportunity presented itself, you seized.

"Uh … I dunno. Like fair-type shit."

"I've never been to one, Noah. I don't now what fair-type stuff is." He shot her a glare,

"There's like rides and deep fried Twinkies and weird games." he muttered and she sighed loudly,

"I've never tried a deep fried Twinkie either."

"We're not going to the fair, Berry."

She pouted, "But we're already here."

"So? We're not going." he bit out and she tried her best to look like a sad puppy but she had a feeling she was failing miserably when he started to laugh,

"Okay ..." he said slowly after his laughter had subsided. She cocked an eyebrow at him,

"Okay what?"

"Okay … we can go." she squealed and he winced, "But only for a couple hours! And don't think I'm doing this to be nice." he added as he stopped and waited for a car to pull out of it's parking spot.

"I would never think that." she said with a smile and he nodded as he pulled into the space, shifting to park and shutting off the truck,

"I'm gonna stick our stuff up here so no one … like steals it." he said and hopped out as she unbuckled her seatbelt. She helped him, sort of. She only grabbed her smallest suitcase and stuck in in the passenger's seat while he grabbed the rest.

"Only a couple hours." he reminded her as they started the long trek through the parking lot. She nodded and practically skipped next to him, she was so excited it was ridiculous.

"Do you think we'll be able to see the fireworks?" she asked and he shrugged, stuffing his hands in his pants pockets. Rachel admired the way his gray t-shirt fit snugly against his chest and arms, he was extremely good looking. _Too bad about his personality _she thought to herself as they pushed their way through the sea of people exiting the fair.

Puck paid for her ticket, taking the money out of his own wallet instead of the wad that her dads had given him. Then he grabbed her hand and she jumped at the contact,

"What are you doing?" she squeaked, uncomfortable with the fact that his touch made her skin feel like it was on fire,

"Berry, you're short and your phone died, I have to keep track of you somehow." he said as he dragged her through the crowd. Well, she couldn't exactly argue with that. And it was kind of nice, holding hands with him but not really because it's not like he was doing it because he liked her. Although she supposed that the fact he didn't want to lose her amidst the sea of people meant that he cared a little.

Then again, if he showed up in California without her, he'd probably be in a lot of trouble. Rachel felt like a little kid as she looked around with wide eyes at everything. The whole fair was lit up and she could see rides that towered over everything and she could smell a variety of things that came wafting out of little food stands.

"Look, cotton candy." Puck said as a vendor waved them over. Rachel beamed,

"I've never had cotton candy."

Puck gaped at her, "Huh?" he asked and then handed some money over to the guy, who handed him a bag of pink cotton candy

"Dad and daddy say that straight sugar like that means trips to the dentist and I'm very afraid of the dentist even though I know that dental hygiene is very important and-" she didn't get to finish because Puck stuck a rather large piece of cotton candy into her mouth. It began to dissolve instantly and left a sweet taste in her mouth,

"It's good." she said after she swallowed and Puck grinned at her and pushed the bag into her hands,

"You have been severely deprived." she scoffed and grabbed some more cotton candy, stuffing it into his mouth, trying to wipe smug smirk off his face. He nearly choked and she started giggling,

"Jesus ..." he breathed once he'd swallowed, "Are you trying to kill me?" she bit her lip and shook her head and he gave her a funny look before grabbing her hand again. For every step he took, she took about three and it was like she was jogging just to keep up with his long strides,

"Why are you walking so fast?" she asked as she tried to keep up. She stuffed some more cotton candy in her mouth as he pulled her along,

"I'm not." he said and then stopped again, causing her to collide with his back. She opened her mouth to berate him but stopped when she saw what they were in front of,

"Seriously?" she asked and he shrugged as he handed over a few bills and the guy behind the counter handed him a bucket of bright green plastic balls.

"Do you want to get the full fair experience or not?" he asked as he closed one eye and aimed the ball at the formation of silver bottles on the other side of the counter. Rachel sighed,

"Yes but-"

"Then let me win you a ..." he paused and glanced over at the prize selection. She looked and then smiled when she saw a medium sized stuffed panda,

"The panda." she said quietly and he gave her a smirk before throwing the ball and knocking down all of the bottles in one shot. The young guy behind the counter whistled as he went over to grab the panda,

"First guy all day who got them all down on the first try." he said as he handed the panda over to Rachel. Puck shrugged his shoulders and then turned to her,

"Told you I was a bad ass."

She rolled her eyes, "You're so egotistical."

"I don't know what that means." he deadpanned but she knew that he did.

– – – – – –

"What the hell kind of ride is this?" he asked as they waited in line. Rachel sighed,

"It's like a ferris wheel that stops once in awhile as someone new gets on and then continues the same process." she explained and she actually saw him gulp as he looked up at it,

"Maybe we should go do some other stuff." he muttered and she frowned,

"I thought you said I should get the full fair experience."

"I know what I said. But, shit … don't you like wanna ride the merry-go-round?" he asked and she laughed,

"Uhm no? I'm not five." she retorted and he sighed, his shoulders slumping slightly, "What's wrong with this ride?" she asked.

"Nothing." he answered quickly and then handed the girl a ticket as Rachel breezed past him and hopped onto the seat. She looked up to see him eying her warily so she patted the spot next to her,

"What?" she asked and he shook his head before walking over and sitting down next to her. He jumped when the girl shut the bar down over them,

"...Puck?" she asked nervously as he clutched the bar so tightly his knuckles turned white. He didn't answer her and when the ride started to move he closed his eyes. They rode up a few feet before the ride jerked to a stop and his eyes flew open,

"Fuck." he breathed and then tried to peer over the side without actually moving his body. Rachel frowned and then realization dawned on her,

"Noah … are you afraid of heights?" she asked, sounding smug. Puck squeezed his eyes shut again as the ride started to move,

"No." he said indignantly but took in a shaky breath as the ride stopped again. They were closer to the top and Rachel leaned over to look down, causing the seat to rock.

"Would you stop that." he ground out and Rachel laughed,

"I thought you were a bad ass."

"I am." he hissed.

"Hm, that's funny. It doesn't seem very bad ass to be afraid of heights." His eyes snapped open and he glared at her,

"Don't mock me Rachel." he said in what she assumed was supposed to be a threatening voice. It didn't exactly have that effect because right after he'd said it the ride started to move again and he took in a deep breath and closed his eyes again.

"Would you look at that ..." she murmured as she looked around. They were at the very top now and she could see out over the entire fair, she admired the way all the lights made everything sparkle in the night,

"We have to be at least forty feet up." she speculated and Puck groaned unhappily,

"Please don't say that." She laughed and then slipped her hand over his,

"I find it … endearing that you're afraid." she felt his hand relax slightly under hers, "I think it's sweet that you're not just rough edges."

He growled but his shoulders relaxed slightly, "If you tell anyone about this you'll get a slushy in the face for a month straight."

Rachel gasped, "Noah!" she chastised and he smirked at her and then it was wiped right off his face as the ride began to move again.

"I hate you." he muttered and she grinned and patted his hand and then moved her hands to his shoulders, rubbing slightly,

"Just relax, we're perfectly safe."

"Yeah, you say that now. Just wait till this thing comes off it's hinges and we fall to our deaths. You know, fair rides are exactly know for being well put together." his voice sounded panicky and Rachel tried very hard not to laugh. But she couldn't help it,

"And you say I'm dramatic."

"Damn it, why didn't you want to ride the merry-go-round? It's not so high up."

"I get motion sickness." she said quietly and Puck scoffed and then let his shoulders drop slightly as her hands continued to move in small circles,

"You're lucky you're a girl. If you were Finn, I so would have decked you by now." She dropped her hands,

"Why!"

"For making me go on this stupid ride!"

"But you said I needed the full-"

"Fuck what I said. Nothing is worth this. I feel like I'm gonna puke." The ride moved again and he let out a slow breath,

"I'm gonna get you back for this."

"Sure you are." she said sarcastically. She doubted that there was anything he could do to torment her like she was doing to him at the moment. She continued to tease him as they continued with the ride and she'd never seen someone move so fast when they got back down to the floor.

– – – – – –

He got her back.

They'd been wandering around aimlessly, looking at everything, when a guy in a full on chicken costume wandered into Rachel's line of vision. She let out a little gasp and tried to move behind Puck,

"What?" he asked and she just shook her head and looked pointedly at the giant yellow chicken. Puck frowned and then a wicked smile crossed onto his face,

"What? Are you scared?"

"Well … yes! I can't stand those types of … costumes. You never know who's under them Noah. It could be a pedophile or a rapist or a ..."

"Guy with a creepy fetish?" he offered and Rachel nodded her head, "Hm ..." he murmured and then glanced over at the chicken,

"What are you doing?" she hissed but he just smirked at her,

"Hey chicken!" he called out the the chicken turned in their direction, walking over when Puck motioned to him.

"Puck, stop! What are you doing!" she cried and was about to run but he had her hand firmly in his. The chicken came to a stop in front of them but said nothing and it creeped Rachel out.

"Hey … the lady here would like picture." the chicken nodded and then motioned for Rachel to come over to him. She was frozen on the spot. All she could think was _pedophile, rapist, creepy … foot fetish._

"Come on Rach ..." Puck said forcefully and then guided her by the arm so that she was standing next to the chicken. He grabbed his phone out of his back pocket as the chicken threw his arm or … wing around Rachel's shoulder and she gave a forced smile as Puck took a picture. She went to move but Puck held up a hand,

"Wait. One more." she glared at him then and then imagined cutting off his favorite appendage as he slept when he took at least three more pictures. The chicken had began to rub her arm and she was throughly freaked out when he finally pulled away after Puck had taken the last one. When the horrid thing was out of sight Rachel turned to face Puck and then hit him with the stuffed panda he'd won her,

"I hate you."

"Well … yeah. But now we're even."

– – – – – –

She nibbled at her corn on the cob and watched in slight disgust as he devoured his ribs. They were sitting by a stage that had a group of picnic tables in front of it and ate as a band played music and couples danced.

"Do you ever stop to taste your food?" she asked dryly and he shrugged his shoulders as he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand,

"Yeah, it tastes great." he said and then took another bite. They had just been about to leave when he had literally sniffed the air and then followed his nose to one of the food stand that had been selling barbecued ribs and corn on the cob. She was going to protest but then her stomach grumbled so they got their food and Puck had went to work on clearing his plate.

He let the last bone drop to his plate and then leaned back and patted his stomach, "That hit the spot." Rachel rolled her eyes and continued to eat her corn, trying to be as ladylike as possible even though she really just wanted to pig out. Puck slurped at his soda and then watched her eat. It kind of made her uncomfortable,

"What?" she asked, when he hadn't stopped staring. He leaned over the table and then brushed her cheek with his fingertips, she tried not to lean into his touch,

"You have corn ..." he said slowly and she felt her cheeks burn as she moved his hand out of the way and wiped at her face.

"Oh." she muttered lamely and then set her corn down and reached for her soda. When she looked over at Puck he had this kind of open mouthed grin and when she cocked an eyebrow at him, he just shook his head.

"Okay now ladies and gentlemen … for this next song … I'd like to see all the couples get up and share a dance ..." the woman's voice carried through the area and the band started playing a slow song. Rachel watched as two kids, probably 10, walked out into the dance floor and started to dance. They were both standing rim rod straight with about a foot of space between them.

Rachel laughed, "Aren't they cute?" she asked, not really expecting him to answer but he did,

"Sure." then he paused, "Maybe someone should show them how it's done." he said quietly and Rachel turned to face him,

"Yeah, maybe." she said with a smile and then blinked as he stood up, "Where are you going?"

Puck rolled his eyes, "For such an observant person you can be a little dense sometimes." he walked around to her side of the table and offered her his hand,

"I'm asking you to dance." she stared at him,

"You want to dance?" he nodded, "with me?" she asked, her voice going up an octave. He gave a frustrated sigh and then grabbed her hand, pulling her up off the seat,

"Full fair experience, remember Berry?" She just nodded and set her bag, with the panda sticking out of the top, onto the table and then let him lead her onto the dance floor. She was surprised at how easy it was to fall into step with him. He placed one hand on the small of her back and the other grabbed her hand and held it against his shoulder,

"I don't think I've ever danced with anyone other than my fathers before." she breathed and he smiled, not a smirk or a grin, but a smile. She felt her heart flutter.

"Well, you're not too bad." he murmured and then twirled with her once and she laughed,

"Neither are you."

"My mom made me take dance lessons when I was eight."

"Like … ballroom?"

"Yep. I wore the ruffly shirts and everything."

"Now there is something I might pay to see." she said, amused. They'd only left Lima two days ago and it'd already felt like it'd been a week. And she was seeing sides to Puck she never would have thought existed. She liked it.

"Look ..." he said quietly into her ear and she turned her head to see the two kids eying them and ever so slightly shuffling closer to each other. She grinned,

"Aw." she cooed and then looked back up at him. His face was closer than she expected. He had this soft look in his eyes that turned them to prettiest shade of green she'd ever seen. His chiseled features made her palms feel sweaty, she hoped he didn't notice.

"So I'm thinking that I'm gonna get a huge cup of coffee and drive all night. Then maybe we can make up for the time we took on our little … detour." and then the moment was kind of gone.

"Okay." she said with a shrug.

"Oh and telling anyone about the ruffly shirts will also warrant you a slushy facial." he added and she scowled at him,

"Neanderthal."

"I like it when you talk dirty." he said cockily and she swatted his shoulder,

"You're a pig." he laughed and then surprised her by dipping her slightly as the song ended, he pulled her back up and she kind of lost her footing so her forehead collided with his chin and her arms automatically threw themselves around his neck so she wouldn't fall.

"Easy there, I mean, I know I'm irresistible and everything but ... we're in public Berry" he teased and she pulled away from him and stomped back to the table, grabbing her purse,

"I was joking Berry!" he called after her. She heard him swear and then felt him next to her as she walked through the crowd.

"You have an ego the size of Texas."

"Texas is a big state, that's good right?" she snorted but said nothing else as they tried to find the exit. She had no idea how they even made it to the truck but she had never been so grateful to see the old hunk of metal in her whole life. Puck was moving the suitcases to the bed of the truck when the fireworks went off,

"Noah! Look!" she gasped and watched as blues, greens and reds exploding into the sky.

– – – – – –

Puck watched Rachel as she looked up at the fireworks in awe. The lights flashed against her skin, blue and green. She looked pretty.

Damn, what was going on with him. First he asked her to dance with him and told him about the dance lessons his mom had used to torture him with and now he was thinking about how pretty she looked with her hair pulled back like it was. He put the rest of the luggage into the back of the truck and then climbed up, once he was standing he extended an arm to Rachel. She stared at it,

"Come on, so you can watch." he explained and she nodded and took it and he helped her up. Unfortunately, she didn't fall into his arms. They were leaning against the cab of his truck when he felt his phone vibrate. He flipped it open to see a text message from Quinn,

**_WHERE R U?!!?! D: If this is u trying to prove that u can b a good dad, then ur failing._**

He groaned inwardly, flipped the phone shut and rubbed at his face. Fuck he was tired. Rachel didn't seem to notice his mood change, she was too into the fireworks. She gasped suddenly and scared the shit out of him,

"Noah! I didn't get a deep fried Twinkie!" Puck eyed her like she was crazy for a moment before rolling his eyes,

"I'll make you one." he said quickly.

"But it won't be at the fair!"

"Then you can go to the fair they have in Ohio and eat on there." he said slowly and her face kind of lit up,

"Really? That's perfect." she said happily and then turned her attention back to the fireworks. When they were finished they both climbed down and got into the truck. Rachel was out cold before they got out of the parking lot. It was nearing 10 and he cruised around the city for awhile, trying to find a drive thru Starbucks. He wasn't a big fan but he needed coffee if he was going to keep awake for the next 5 hours until they got to Amarillo Texas.

So he got the biggest coffee there was and decided that when they got to their next check point he was going to pull over and take a nap. Puck turned on the radio and was about to blast some ACDC when he remembered that Rachel was asleep.

"Fuck, if I don't get to sleep neither does she." he muttered and turned the volume up, loud. Rachel jumped up as _Back in Black_ blared from the speakers. She looked at him tiredly before yawning and then falling back asleep.

"Damn it." he said to himself, without Berry yapping away in his ear he had no idea how he was gonna keep awake.

**ATTENTION! PLEASE READ! I do not know when I will be able to update this story or any of my other ones. I have finals coming up this week and then I have a lot of Christmas stuff to get done. I'll try and post a few chapters here and there but more than likely I probably won't be back into the swing of things and updating regularly until the New Year. Thank you all for reading! I really appreciate it! And I'm glad you're liking it!  
**

**Happy Holidays!**

**Nicole!**

**Oh! and P.S my 200th reviewer on this story gets a special one shot as a Christmas present from me!**

**:)  
**


	6. Texas

**This chapter is dedicated to zora080393 and Sweet CrAzY Citrus because I felt bad about the two of you not being my 200th reviewer. If I could I'd write one shots for everyone but ... I'm just not that talented. **

**Let's try and get to 270 at least! That will really make my day. (:**

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So two hours in, Puck was exhausted.

Like to the point that he was nodding off while driving. If Berry had been awake, she would have flipped. So he decided he'd pull off to the side of the road and take a twenty minute nap and Rachel would never have to know. But when Puck was out, he was out for a full 8 hours.

Which was probably why he woke up to Rachel slapping him in the face. Well, it wasn't so much _slapping_ as it was _patting,_

"Noah? Noah, wake up." her voice was all worried and he didn't even have to open his eyes to know that she was freaking out. He groaned inwardly and he heard Rachel gasp,

"Noah, are you okay?" she asked and he winced as he felt her knee pressing into his thigh uncomfortably,

"No." he mumbled and moved his hand so that it was resting right below her hip, he wanted to be prepared because her knee was a little too close to the promise land for his liking,

"What's wrong?" she asked frantically and he groaned,

"Your voice ..." he started and then cracked his eyes open, "... is annoying." Rachel's worried expression turned into a scowl as he smirked at her. What he was not expecting was for her to smacked the side of his head,

"Ow! What the _fuck_, Rachel?" he whined as he rubbed his scalp.

She glared at him, "Since it seems that you are not ill or injured in anyway, would you mind telling me why we are pulled over on the side of the high way?" she asked and he sighed as he let his head fall back against the seat,

"I was tired and I didn't want to crash so I pulled over."

"Puck!" she cried, "That was incredibly foolish! What would have happened if someone drove by and then tried to steal the truck! Or worse, me!" Puck fought the urge to roll his eyes,

"Whatever Berry, it's your fault anyways." he muttered and her mouth fell open, she looked absolutely appalled.

"How so?"

"You're the one who wanted to go to the stupid fair." he reminded her and her face sort of fell after that and she looked kind of guilty but Puck didn't care because at least she had stopped talking. Then they both seemed to realize that they were in a rather intimate position, what with her knee resting on his thigh and his hand on her hip and she still had a vicelike grip on his arm. He wanted to laugh because she flushed pink and then nearly fell into the windshield as she scrambled to get back to her side of the cab but he couldn't seem to bring himself to.

"Let's go. We're wasting time just sitting here." she said primly and he let out a tired sigh before leaning forward and turning the key in the ignition.

– – – – – –

"This weather is horrible." Rachel commented as she looked out her window at the gray sky. He barked a laugh and shook his head, she had been quiet for the past three hours, making it extremely awkward for him.

"You really wanna talk about the weather, Berry?" he asked with a raised brow and he saw her shrug out of the corner of his eye. Puck decided that quiet wasn't something he liked, even though whenever he was around Rachel he always desperately wanted it, so he switched on he radio,

_"It seems that a thunderstorm is in the forecast today ..." _Sure enough, water started to patter against the windshield and the two of them groaned at the same time,

_"It's advised that folks keep off the roads today due to flash floods that could occur in the area." _ Puck snuck a glance at Rachel who looked like she had seen a ghost,

"Flash flood warning!?" she yelped and Puck rolled his eyes,

"Chill Berry, it's just a warning."

"We can't drive when there's a thunderstorm and flash flood warnings!" she wailed and he sighed loudly,

"Well what do you want me to do?" he asked and she just bit her lip, "Look, we can drive through this thing, alright? We can get out of here before it gets really bad and-" and then it started to pour, like sheets of rain. Rachel gasped loudly,

"Noah!"

"Fine!" he flipped on the wipers, "Look for a motel or something." he said through gritted teeth and Rachel nodded as she peered out her window. They really just couldn't go five hours without running into some kind of road block and their little road to California was quickly turning into an an epic journey through the western United States. Puck turned down a road that led to a street that had small shops on either side of it, it was like typical small town America.

"There's one right there!" she said suddenly and pointed out the window, Puck squinted and tried to see through the rain. He could barely make out the buildings but he saw the sign for vacancies hanging above a door. He pulled up in front and shut off the truck,

"Go get a room, I'm gonna get the stuff." he told her she nodded before hopping out of the car. He got out after she disappeared into the small building, the rain was hitting him in the eyes and he could barely see anything as he tried to unload all of Rachel's suitcases from the bed of his truck. He'd slung his duffel bag over his shoulder when she appeared again,

"Okay, the lady said it was right in front." she told him, her teeth chattering. He nodded and handed her one of her suitcase which she took and hurried towards the row of doors. She nearly slipped but Puck caught her by the elbow and tried not to laugh as she slid on the wet floor, trying to regain her balance. She punched him on the shoulder, which actually hurt and then walked away, a little more carefully this time. It wasn't until they were under the overhang that he realized both their clothes were soaked. Rachel was actually shaking, he remembered that she didn't retain body heat very well since she was so small. She couldn't even open the door.

"I got it." he mumbled and took the key from her trembling hand. She gave him a grateful smile and stepped to the side so he could unlock the door. Then he did the gentlemanly thing and let her in first.

"This is ridiculous, why is it raining?" she said through chattering teeth. Puck looked down at her, her hair was sticking to her forehead and to the sides of her face and her light pink shirt was becoming see through from the rain. He yanked his sweatshirt out of his duffel bag,

"Here." he said, a little gruffly, and handed it over. She stared at it for a moment, like she didn't really know what it was before taking it and slipping it on.

"Thank you." she chattered and he gave her a small smile as he rubbed his hands up and down her upper arms,

"Can't get sick Berry. Need to take care of your voice." he murmured and she nodded seriously,

"Oh yes, you too." he gave her a look before chuckling and pulling off his shirt. When he looked at her again, she looked unamused,

"Why must you always strip in front of me?"

"Why don't you ever strip in front of me?" he countered and she scoffed and then turned around abruptly, reaching for her suitcase. Puck just rolled his eyes as he pulled a dry t-shirt from his bag, his jeans weren't too wet so he left them on. He really wouldn't have minded if Rachel decided to strip down right in front of him, he'd meant it when he said she was hot. He wasn't sure if she was modest or just a prude but she slipped into the bathroom to change.

Puck toed off his shoes and then flopped down onto the bed that was closest to him. Thankfully, there were two beds in this room. He did not want a repeat of what happened the last time they shared a bed. He really had no idea how he ended up spooning with Rachel Berry, what really creeped him out is that he hadn't exactly minded it so much.

"Noah?" he looked over to see her standing there in a pair of black yoga pants and his sweatshirt, "Do you mind if I wear this? It's cold and I don't have a sweater that's suitable for-"

"It's cool, Rachel." he said quietly and she smiled at him before glancing around the room. Puck waited for her to say or do something but she just stood there. He sighed loudly,

"I'm taking a nap." he announced and she frowned at him for a moment before nodding and then moving over to the dresser where the television was,

"Well … I'm going to … watch TV." she said, he yawned as he nodded and then heard the TV click on.

_"Oh yes! Right there!" _His eyes flew open and he laughed at the sight in front of him. Rachel was looking at the television, horrified at the sight of the two people having sex on the screen. But she didn't do anything, she just stared with her mouth open for a good twenty seconds,

"Uh … Rachel?" he asked hesitantly and she snapped out of her trance, blushing bright red. She scrambled to change the channel but couldn't find the buttons on the TV,

"How do I change it!" she cried and Puck laughed as she searched for the remote. It wasn't anything too serious, just your average porno but Rachel had turned a really bright shade of red and he couldn't stop laughing.

"Puck!" she yelled and then threw her hands up before shutting off the TV. She turned to him, clearly annoyed,

"Do you know what this means!?" he didn't answer, he was was too busy trying to remember how to breath, "Puck! This means that the previous tenants of this room … fornicated!"

That didn't help the situation, if anything, it only made him laugh harder. Then she stomped her foot and glared at him,

"Puck!"

"What? What's the big deal? People have sex all the time. _I _have sex all the time." he said and her mouth dropped open in shock for a second. She snapped it shut and narrowed her eyes are him,

"The big deal is that motels like these aren't known for their cleanliness. I can't even begin to imagine how long ago that blanket was washed." she said, looking pointedly at his bed. He rolled his eyes but shifted uncomfortably, it was kind of gross.

"Whatever Berry. I'm going to sleep now." He closed his eyes and she huffed but he ignored her. After a minute he heard her feet pad against the carpet and when he cracked his eyes open she was standing next to the other bed,

"Disgusting." he heard her mutter as she gingerly sat down, "I can't believe I'm doing this. It's unsanitary." Puck laughed,

"Sweet dreams."

"Shut up."

– – – – – –

_"_Oh my god!"

"What the fuck?!"

Puck looked over to see Rachel having a similar reaction to the loud bang of thunder that had just occurred. She was all wide eyed and disheveled and he chuckled because her hair was sticking straight up in the back.

"You okay there?" he asked, amusement in his voice. She rolled her eyes,

"Don't pretend like you didn't scream too."

He bristled, "I don't scream, I'm a bad ass, Berry." he reminded her and both her eyebrows rose so high they almost disappeared into her hairline.

He huffed, "Fine. But it wasn't a scream. It was a yell. A … a manly yell." he added as he laid back down. He closed his eyes and was just about to fall back asleep when his stomach growled.

Loudly.

He groaned, "You don't happen to have any food on you?" he asked hopefully without opening his eyes. Rachel sighed,

"Let me check." she murmured. He sat up, rubbing at his eyes, and watched as she got off her bed and walked over to where her purse was sitting on the floor. Puck got up off his bed as she was digging through her bag and went to stretch in front of the window. He looked out and saw that the rain had let up but it was still pouring pretty hard.

"I don't have anything. Sorry."she said quietly and he sighed dramatically and then went over to his bed. He plopped down and started to put his shoes back on, Rachel moved and stood in front of him,

"What are you doing?"

"What does it look like I'm doing?" he asked as he tugged on his left shoe and reached for the right.

"You're not seriously going out there in that rain?"

"Well I'm not just gonna sit here and starve."

"But-"

"Look, I need food. And I can't just sit here in a room with you while I'm hungry. One of us will end up dead." He stood up and looked down at her, "And it won't be me." he went back over to the window, tugging the curtain out of the way and squinting,

"I think there's a bar or something across the street." he turned to look at her expectantly. She just crossed her arms over her chest,

"Well I'm not going with you. You heard that thunder, right?"

"Whatever." he said and turned back around, he was moving slowly and counting in his head, waiting for it.

_5 … 4 … 3 … 2 …_

"Wait!" she cried and he looked over his shoulder at her, trying to be irritated but he really just wanted to smile. She frowned but let her arms drop, "Just … let me change."

He smirked.

Predictable.

– – – – – –

Puck tugged off his hood as they entered the bar-slash-diner. It was pretty crowded considering the storm outside. A petite and _extremely _hot waitress walked up to him,

"Hi, grab a sit anywhere you want." she said with a smile and Puck watched her walk away, appreciating the sway of her hips. Rachel's arm smacked him in the stomach,

"Close your mouth, you're drooling." she quipped and then sauntered away to the closest table. Puck reached up quickly to wipe his mouth but there was nothing there,_ damn her_.

He slide in across from Rachel, "You're funny." he commented dryly but she just nodded her head as she looked over her menu. Puck grabbed his own from behind the napkin dispenser and flipped through it before deciding on a roast beef sandwich,

"Hi there, what can I get you two to drink?" the same waitress asked. Puck looked her up and down once and she blushed, then Rachel kicked him under the table. He turned to glare at her,

"What?" he hissed but she just smiled sweetly and turned to their waitress,

"I'd love some tea."

"And you?" she asked as she jotted down something on her notepad.

"A coke." he muttered, "And I want the roast beef on rye." he added. The waitress nodded as she continued to write and then looked over at Rachel,

"And for you?"

"Turkey, please."

"Well alright, I'll be right out with your drinks and your food should be here shortly." she said and gave him a flirty smile before walking away.

"You're a pig."

"What?" Puck asked, turning to face Rachel again. She looked annoyed,

"Ogling women like that. It's degrading."

"She didn't seem to mind, Berry."

"That's because she thinks it's a compliment."

"You wouldn't want some guy drooling over you 'cause you're hot?" he asked incredulously.

"I'd much rather be beautiful." she said quietly and he felt his mouth drop open, "I'm pretty sure all girls would." and this was the point where he'd usually make some asshole remark. But he surprised the hell out of himself when he said nothing instead.

"Okay … we have our tea ..." the waitress said as she reappeared, setting down some tea in front of Rachel and then Puck's Coke in front of him,

"And a roast beef … and a turkey." she continued as she slide their plates onto the table and then she looked pointedly at him, batting her eyelashes and everything,

"Is there anything else I could get you?

"No, I'm good."

"Okay ..." she said, looking a little disappointed, "Well just let me know." she moved to leave but then stopped, "And I totally _love _your hair." she added and then walked away.

"I told you the 'hawk was a chick magnet, Berry." he said, remembering how when they dated she told him it was a horrible hair cut.

"Clearly." she deadpanned as she picked up her sandwich and then took a huge bite. Puck liked the fact that she was comfortable enough around him to tear apart a sandwich rather than eat like some dainty bird. He didn't realize he was grinning at her until she lowered her sandwich slowly,

"Wuh?" she asked with a full mouth and he shook his head and grabbed his own sandwich,

"Nothin'."

She set down her sandwich and sighed, "Is it starting to feel like we're never going to make it to California?" she asked and he snorted,

"I'm surprised we're both still alive."

"Okay guys! You all know what we usually do during a storm." Puck looked up to see a balding man on the stage and then everyone cheered.

"Any takers?" he asked and a couple of older dudes stood up and walked onto the stage. They were grinning at each other and then the music started and then they started singing,

"Y_ou can dance, you can jive, having the time of your life. See that girl, watch that scene, dig in the dancing queen!" _

Puck laughed, "You have to be shitting me." The guys weren't horrible, but they weren't the best thing he had ever heard. He watched in amusement as they finished the song and a lady who looked to be about sixty got up on the stage and sang _My Heart Will Go On. _

He choked on his sandwich when she started singing, badly. He looked over at Rachel who was eying the women with distaste. He almost had to agree with her, she was butchering the song. After the woman finished there were a few scattered claps and he nudged Rachel with his knee.

"What?"

"Show 'em how it's done."

She gave him a wicked grin, "Care to join me?"

"Hell no, I don't do karaoke." he muttered and she bit her lip, trying the puppy dog look. But he held strong and just took another bite of his sandwich, so she pulled herself to her feet and made her way over to the stage.

He felt himself break into a wide grin as the music started, he'd know that song anywhere,

_"Tommy used to work on the docks. Union's been on strike. He's down on his luck...it's tough, so tough. Gina works the diner all day. Working for her man, she brings home her pay. For love - for love." _Rachel winked at him and he laughed out loud as she sang, putting her all into it, like always. This was how Puck liked Rachel best, when she was preforming. It was like she was showing who she really was, instead of the neurotic freak who usually consumed her personality. When she sang she almost seemed normal. But then again, he didn't think she could ever be normal with that voice.

"_She says 'We've got to hold on to what we've got cause it doesn't make a difference if we make it or not. We've got each other and that's a lot. For love - we'll give it a shot." _Then she hopped off the stage, taking the microphone with her,

_ "Woaaah! We're half way there, Ohh, livin' on a prayer. Take my hand and we'll make it - I swear. Ohhh, livin' on a prayer." _She walked until she was standing right in front of him, dancing around and twirling, laughing as she went along. He realized that she was gonna drag him into it whether he wanted it or not,

_ "Tommy got his six string in hock. Now he's holding in what he used to make it talk - So tough._" she sang and then grabbed his hand pulling him to his feet and dragging him with her back up to the stage,

_ "It's tough"_

Puck rolled his eyes before standing in front of the other mike with his hands in his pockets, "**Gina dreams of running away, when she cries in the night Tommy whispers 'Baby it's okay … someday..."**

_**"****We've got to hold on to what we've got 'cause it doesn't make a difference if we make it or not. We've got each other and that's a lot. For love - we'll give it a shot."**_they sang together and Rachel was smiling at him like he was in some weird new light. And it was just fun. The last time he had fun singing any song was when he sang_ Sweet Caroline_ to her. But that wasn't because he sang it to her, it was because Neil Diamond was _kick ass_.

**_"Woooah, We're half way there. Ohh, livin' on a prayer. Take my hand and we'll make it - I swear. Ohh, Livin' on a prayer._**

**"Livin' on a prayer."** he sang, hitting a note he didn't even think was in his range. They both laughed before the next verse started,

_  
**"We've got to hold on ready or not. You live for the fight when it's all that you've got. Woah, We're half way there. Ohh, livin' on a prayer. Take my hand and we'll make it - I swear. Woaaah, Livin' on a prayer..."**_

_"Woah, we're halfway there, ohhh livin' on prayer."_

**"Take my hand, we'll make it- I swear. Ohh, livin' on a prayer."**

**_"Woaaah, living on a prayer."_ **they both finished and Puck felt like he was a thousand feet tall because Rachel was fucking glowing and he had this really weird feeling in the pit of his stomach and he felt adrenaline pumping through him.

He got all that from just_ singing_ with her. And it _was_ fun, mostly because she wasn't being all uptight like she usually was and she just looked … happy. He wrapped an arm around the back of her neck and put her into a playful headlock.

They got a standing ovation.

– – – – – –

They ran through the rain and back to their motel room. Both of them were laughing as Puck closed the door behind them,

"That was great." she breathed and he nodded as he stripped off his sweatshirt. She was struggling with the sleeves with hers so he helped her. He was sliding it off her shoulders when he realized how close they were. And he wasn't sure why he did it, maybe it was because her cheeks were all pink from being out in the cold or maybe it was the way she was looking at him, like she trusted him. Whatever the reason, he leaned down and pressed his lips against hers. It was like a jolt of electricity shot through his body and he heard her wet jacket drop to the floor with a _slop_.

And then they both pulled away at the same time, looking away from each other and before he knew what he was doing, what she was doing, he turned back around and was met with her lips. Then her hands were grasping the base of his skull and his were gripping the tops of her arms and it was all over way too soon in his opinion. They broke apart and each took two steps away from each other,

"Sorry." she said, turning away from him slightly. He was panting, for fuck's sake, so all he could do was nod,

"Yeah." he breathed and then, like a fucking magnet, he was pulled back to her and they both met in the middle. She wrapped her arms around his neck and he hoisted her off the ground so he toes were just barely touching the floor and he just kissed her. Kissed her like a sex-deprived man and she returned it, her lips attacking his own. And then all of a sudden she started kissing his neck, which drives him crazy when any chick does it but, Rachel kept making these little whimpering noises that he was sure were about to make him shoot his load at any moment. And it was like _what the fuck, _'cause he wasn't Finn but Rachel bit down on his neck and he felt like a horny 14 year old virgin again, about to be deflowered Suzy Morgan, the slutty co-captain of Mckinleys JV volleyball team.

Then she started taking her clothes off, first her jeans then her shirt and all of a sudden she was nearly naked in his arms. He was pretty damn close to tossing her down on the bed when his brain pulled itself out of it's lust induced haze. Her fingers were at the hem of his shirt, stroking the skin underneath and for some reason he thinks of Quinn of all people. And he knows for a fact that Rachel's a virgin and he's not sensitive or whatever but he knows that Rachel deserves more than him sleeping with her because they were both horny. She deserves someone who doesn't have a shit load of baggage and a baby momma waiting for him in California.

He can't do it, he likes her too much.

So he jerked away from her and looked around frantically, trying to look at anything but her so he wouldn't toss everything out the window and kiss her again.

"...Noah?" she asked hesitantly and he looked down at her. Her eyes were all big and confused and he felt like a dick but her hand reached out to touch his arm and … god, just her touch made him feel like his skin was on fire. He needed to get out of there. _Now._

"Sorry … I gotta go ..." he said and bolted out of the room, not even bothering to grab a jacket. He didn't know what the hell he was doing but he knew that he had to get out of that room. Rachel was making his head spin. Rachel _fucking _Berry. He was a stud! He didn't get all light headed over a girl. The whole thing was making him so confused that his head started to hurt.

_What the hell?_

So he walked down the street, trying to figure out what the hell he was going to do. He shouldn't have just run out of there like an idiot, now things were gonna be really awkward. Rachel looked really amazing without her clothes on, her skin was all smooth and she was firm and soft in all the right places and ... _focus Puckerman! _It's not like Puck didn't like her, she was Jewish and she was hot and he could totally spend hours upon hours just _kissing _her. Which was saying something, especially considering his reputation. She was kind of perfect for him, not that he'd ever tell her that or admit it out loud. He was a slacker and she was extremely ambitious.

Didn't they have some saying about opposites attracting?

He shoved his hands in his pockets and kicked at the water that was piling up on the sidewalk. He'd been walking for about ten minutes before he realized he wasn't really going anywhere but he wasn't exactly ready to go back to that room yet. Then there was a loud bang of thunder that literally made him jump a foot in the air, the rain really started to pour and he remembered that that was how people caught pneumonia and then possibly died. If he got sick he would probably loose his voice too and Rachel would kill him if that happened because then he wouldn't be able to sing at Sectionals.

He stopped and looked back all the way he'd walked, pausing for a few seconds before he groaned and jogged back to the motel.

– – – – – –

"Thank god!" Rachel cried as soon as he opened the door, she was in sweatpants already and wearing a thin sweater. She walked over to him and for a second he thought she was going to hug him but then she slapped him the second he had shut the door,

"What the hell is wrong with you?" she asked and then hit him on the arm, "I can't believe that you'd rather run into a thunderstorm than kiss me you … jack ass! You could have just told me that you didn't reciprocate, I would have handled it gracefully. In case you've forgotten, I'm used to being rejected." she ranted.

"R-R-Rachel." he said through chattering teeth and her whole face softened. She held his hand and led him to his bed where she sat him down.

"You're going to get sick." she murmured as she pulled his shirt over his head.

"I'm sorry." he said, teeth still chattering, as she went to get his duffel bag, "I just kind of freaked out and I mean, I know I'm a stud and all but ..." he trailed off as she dropped the bag next to him on the bed and looked at him expectantly,

"You're you and I'm … me. And …" he gulped as he hands went to his belt buckle, her knuckles grazing his abdomen, "I mean … I shouldn't want to kiss you as badly as I do right now." he breathed as she undid his belt. She stilled and looked up at him, staring at him like she was trying to see into his soul.

Then she kissed him. Not frantic and desperate kisses like before but it was like … gentle. It was weird at first because Puck had never kissed anyone like that before, _he'd _never been kissed like that before. Her hands came to rest on his shoulders and his right hand moved to her cheek, his thumb moving across the soft skin there. She was soft _everywhere._

She pulled away first, "Good night, Noah." she whispered and then when he opened his eyes she was already at her bed, laying down.

"Wha-" he started but stopped himself. He wasn't going to question her, he'd never understand the answer. Puck stood up and shook off his wet jeans, which were starting to chafe, and pulled on a pair of McKinley high sweatpants and a dry t-shirt. Then he looked at his lonely, lonely, empty bed and then over at where Rachel was dozing off with her back towards him.

He sighed loudly, "You know, I heard that body heat is important to staying warm and I was out in the rain for awhile. I think I'm still shivering, it's probably still possible that I could catch pneumonia." he said, trying to hint at what he wanted. He could practically hear her roll her eyes and she patted the bed behind her. He grinned before switching off the light and then crawling into bed with her. He laid down next to her, not exactly sure what he should do, what she would be okay with him doing, but she grabbed his arm and pulled it around her waist and then held tightly onto his hand,

"You're not very good at being subtle." she murmured and he laughed softly as he adjusted his other arm,

"I wasn't trying to be."

**AN: Okay, so it's literally five in the morning and I only combed over this once so please excuse any grammar or spelling errors. I just really wanted to get this chapter up before next week. So, not so much funny in this one but in the next one Puck teaches Rachel how to drive a stick and I will be calling on my own personal memories from when my grandfather taught me and made me cry. That was a fun day.**

**Anyways, shout out to Bibz! I left a review on her story Use Somebody and her reply totally made my day, so thank you for that! I thought I'd give a couple shout out to some other stories I've been digging lately which include Slushie Shots by LazyLiChan and  It Goes Down Easy by une fille and Roses in My Hands by Honeyprose. **

**Thank you for reading and _hopefully _reviewing!**

**I'll update as soon as I can.**

**-Nicole  
**


	7. New Mexico

Author's Note: Wearing my Gleek shirt today! :D So, I'm not all too happy with this chapter. The emotional scene in the middle kind of snuck up on me. But I had just watched Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, so that's where it came from. Next chapter should be up soon, I'm trying to get the whole thing finished by the end of this week.

To wtdancer18, I understand your concerns and I can assure you that Puck will stay in character through out the story. Or at least he'll try. Characterization is one of my biggest pet peeves and I hate when writers stray too far from the character's personality on the show.

Please read and review! Reviews make me update faster. (:

Hope you enjoy!

-Nicole

* * *

Rachel woke up to the soft sound of rain falling against the roof. She groaned inwardly as she rolled over and buried her face in her pillow, she was way to comfortable to even compute getting up. She inhaled deeply and smiled as she snuggled deeper into the pillow, it smelled like Puck.

She bolted straight up, looking around wildly. It _smelled _like _Puck. _Then the events of yesterday flooded her memory,

"Oh god." she moaned as she covered her face with her hands. The singing, the kissing, the removal of her clothes …

She glanced over at the bathroom and she could see the yellow light peeking out from under the door. The shower was running and she let out a sigh of relief, she half expected him to leave her there. Rachel was a little unsure of the state of their relationship. Were they together? They almost had sex, that had to mean that they were in some sort of relationship right?

Puck chose that moment, while she was having an internal debate with herself, to emerge from the bathroom. He had a white towel slung low on his hips and drops of water glistened on his body and she was suddenly reminded of just how attractive she found him. He smirked at her as he reached for his duffel bag,

"... Hey." he said slowly and she felt her cheeks flush,

"Hi." she squeaked and he chuckled as he dug through his bag, finally pulling out a white shirt and tugging it over his head. Rachel got out of bed and moved to stand in front of him, but not too close because she was trying not to think about kissing him.

"So … uhm ..." she lost her train of though as he pulled on a pair of jeans under his towel and she realized he wasn't going to be wearing underpants underneath them,

"About … about ..." she trailed off again as he tugged off the towel and buttoned his jeans, "About last night … I ..."

"It's cool Berry, I knew you couldn't resist me for long." he drawled with a smirk as he sat down on the edge of the bed and tugged on his socks.

Her mouth dropped open in shock before she narrowed her eyes at him and fisted her hands on her hips, "If I seem to remember, _Puck_, it was _you _who crawled into bed with _me_."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa ..." he said, holding up his hands in defense as he stood up, "I was just giving you what you wanted babe. Or … in case you forgot, you were all up on this last night." he motioned to himself and she scoffed but he continued,

"I mean, who could blame you. I am a fine piece of ass."

"Uncouth is what you are." she grumbled as she tried to walk past him but he grabbed her arm and pulled her towards him so that she stumbled into him,

"Sure." he murmured before pressing his lips against hers. She contemplated shoving him off her but her arms had wound themselves around his neck on their own accord and he grabbed at her hips and her mind pretty much went blank after that. There was something about Noah Puckerman's lips that seemed to be able to render her speechless.

He pulled away first and then did something un-Puck like and kissed the tip of her nose. She stared at him in shock for a moment before disentangling herself from his arms,

"I should go … take a shower." she breathed and he nodded, swatting her behind as she walked away. She jumped slightly and then sent a playful scowl over her shoulder at him.

He just grinned.

– – – – – –

It was like she was in the Twilight Zone. She was sitting in Puck's truck and he was _holding her hand_. Like it was no big deal. She wasn't sure who this Puck impersonator was but he was making her worry.

Noah Puckerman was holding Rachel Berry's hand. It was too surreal. When they dated he had never held her hand, just linked her arm through his. Hand holding seemed more intimate than that. Rachel had a million questions running through her head but for once she kept them to herself. There was no way she was ruining the good vibes that were flowing between the two of them.

He even offered to rehearse with her! They'd been driving for two hours, this was before the hand holding, when he turned to her and asked her if she wanted to go over the songs they were going to sing at Disneyland. That had resulted in more talking than singing because after the first song she asked him what ride he was looking forward to the most.

"I dunno, like all of them?"

"Well, I'm planning on enjoying It's a Small World more than once."

"The one with the singing dolls?"

"... yes, that one."

"Sounds lame. I'm gonna ride Space Mountain and laugh while Finn screams like a girl."

"It is not lame! It's a beautiful ride that sends the message of international unity and global peace!"

"If you say so." he said absently as he tapped his fingers along the steering wheel. Rachel took a moment to appreciate the fact that she and Puck were actually conversing in a civil manner. Friendly even. She glanced out the window at the passing scenery and let her hand fall into the middle of the bench seat. She wasn't expecting him to weave his fingers through hers so she jumped slightly and stared down at their entwined hands.

Rachel smiled to herself before sneaking a glance at him, he still had both eyes on the road. She looked back out the window, still grinning, she had no idea what was happening but she liked it.

– – – – – –

"What are we doing?" Rachel asked as they pulled into the parking lot of yet another diner. He just rolled his eyes,

"I'm hungry." he said as he got out of the car.

"Oh ..." she mumbled and unbuckled her seatbelt. Puck stood in front of the truck, waiting for her with his hands in his pockets. She couldn't help but smile when he laid his hand against the small of her back and guided her inside,

"Hi, two for today?" the waitress asked as soon as they stepped inside. They both just nodded and she gave them an enthusiastic smile as she led them to their table.

"I don't understand why we couldn't have just gone through a drive-thru." Rachel muttered as she looked over her menu.

"I need real food Berry. Like pancakes."

They ordered their food and then they ate it, well Puck inhaled his food. It was the fasted dining experience Rachel had ever had outside of a fast food restaurant. Puck paid for their food and they were back on the road within half an hour but not before stopping at the gas station and refueling. Puck handed Rachel forty bucks and told her to go crazy. She picked out a variety of treats, starting with the ones she thought Puck would like the most and then a few healthier options

"Score." he muttered after she got back in the truck and dug through one of the bags she'd brought. He popped open a bag of Cheetos and shoved a handful in his mouth before starting the car,

"Thanks Rachel." he said around the food and it took her a moment before she realized he had called her by her first name.

– – – – – –

"Berry … Berry wake up." Rachel felt Puck's finger poke into her side and she swatted his hand away, "Come on Berry, wake up." he said as he poked her again.

"What?" she groaned as she rolled away from the window. When she cracked open her eyes he was grinning at her,

"Are you awake?"

"Obviously."

"Good." and then he got out of the car. Rachel sat up and looked around,

"Noah!" she screeched as she took in her surroundings. They were in the middle of what look to be a deserted campground,

"Noah, what are we doing?" she asked frantically as he moved to open her door. Puck just chuckled and motioned for her to get down,

"I am going to teach you how to drive a stick." he explained and she frowned at him, refusing to move,

"What? Why?"

"Well cause …" he said as he tugged on her arm, causing her to tumble out of the truck. He held onto her elbow so she would fall, "I noticed that you fell asleep … again and I was thinkin' that it's not exactly fair that I have to do all the driving while you get to nap."

"So you're going to teach me?" she asked and he nodded, "Now?" he nodded again and she eyed him for a moment, trying to decide whether he had lost his mind. But he was just looking at her calmly so she let her shoulders slump,

"Fine." she mumbled and pushed past him and walked around to the driver's side. She strapped on her seatbelt and moved the seat forward before looking over at him expectantly,

"Are you going to get in?" she snapped and he raised his eyes to the sky and took in a deep breath,

"I have a feeling I'm going to regret this."

"It was your idea."

"I know it was my idea." he muttered as he pulled himself into the truck.

"Aren't you going to put on your seatbelt?"she snapped, he raised an eyebrow at her but obliged. Once his belt was clicked into place she gripped the steering wheel,

"Okay, what now?"

"Okay, well first there are the different gears."

"You mean these little numbers?" she asked, pointing to the top of the stick shift.

He nodded, "Yep, okay now put your hand on it." She rested her hand on top of the black knob, his hand came to rest over hers,

"This s neutral." he murmured as he wiggled the stick shift back and forth, "See how it moves back and forth easily?" he asked and she nodded. He smiled,

"Okay, now push in the clutch ..." she glanced down and pushed in the third pedal, "this ..." he moved the stick shift to the left and then up, "Is first. Straight down … is second. Then, we move back to the middle and straight up … that's third. Fourth is straight down from that … and then back to the middle and to the right is fifth. And then straight down from that is reverse." he explained,

"You got it?" he asked and she raised her gaze to his, she'd been so absorbed in the feeling of his hand over hers she nearly missed everything he'd said.

"Yes."

"Good." he shifted back to neutral and dropped his hand from hers, "Now when you start the car you have to push in the clutch before you turn the key."

"Like this?" she asked as she pushed down on the clutch. Puck nodded and she turned the key in the ignition. The truck roared to life and Rachel laughed,

"Look, I did it!" she said happily. Puck smiled at her, like a real smile, not a smirk.

"Yeah, you did. Okay, now what you're gonna do is switch into first ..." Rachel reached for the stick shift again and Puck's hand came over hers once more as she shifted into first.

"Good, okay now even out."

Rachel frowned, " … Even out?"

"Slowly let go of the clutch and push on the gas at the same time."

"Oh, okay." Rachel followed his instructions and the car jerked forward a few times. She panic and stepped on the gas and the car stopped all together.

"What'd I do?" she asked nervously and Puck sighed,

"Well, you stalled the truck."

"I'm sorry."

"It's cool. Just start it again." Rachel nodded and started the truck again, evening out and this time she didn't slam on the breaks.

"Okay, now press on the clutch and shift into second." Puck instructed and Rachel was just so caught up in actually moving that she stepped on the break instead of the clutch. The truck stalled again and she bit her lip, looking over at Puck nervously. His eye twitched a little but he said nothing, just motioned for her to start the truck again.

They continued like for like that for awhile, she would start the car and move a few feet before slamming on the breaks and on rare occasion she even got to second gear, before Puck was on his last nerve,

"Rachel, if you want to break you have to push in the clutch! Christ, how many times do I have to tell you?"

"Don't yell at me!"

"I'm not yelling! I just don't understand why you keep pressing on the break!"

"It's a reflex!"

"Well stop reflexing and just push in the clutch!"

"Fine!" She pushed in the clutch and switched into second gear, the car jerked a little and she panicked once more and slammed on the break.

"The clutch, Berry!" Puck cried as the truck stalled once more. Rachel sent him a glare before going to start the car again. She pushed in the clutch and turned the key but nothing happened.

"It won't start."

"I can see that."

"Why won't it start?"

"Did you push in the clutch?"

"Yes, I pushed in the clutch!" she yelled and Puck gave her a look before hopping put of the truck. He popped the hood and Rachel climbed out after him, standing off the the side and wringing her hands together nervously. He fiddled around under the hood for about five minutes before he let it drop down. He wiped his hands off on his jeans before placing them on his hips and looking down at the ground.

"What … what happened?" Rachel asked hesitantly and Puck looked up at the sky, frowning at the sun,

"Well, you killed my transmission." He ran his hands over the back of his head in a jerky motion, "Fuck Berry, you _killed _my transmission."

"I don't know what that means."

"It means that my truck is broken." he said through gritted teeth. He kicked at the dirt on the ground and then the tire of his truck.

"You killed my baby!" he cried and Rachel winced, he looked so upset.

Then she frowned, "It was your idea!"

"Yeah, I knew I'd regret it." Rachel rolled her eyes and Puck ran a hand over his face, "Fuck, what are we gonna do now?"

"Well, I suggest we call a tow truck."

Puck nodded slowly and turned away from her, "Yeah … okay ..." he took in a deep breath and then let it out slowly as he dug in his pocket for his phone. He took a few steps away from her and Rachel leaned against the side of the truck. She admired the way his left arm was flexing as he clenched his hand into a fist. He was too far away from her to hear what he was saying and he didn't give to much away with his facial expressions. Finally he snapped his phone shut and stomped back over to her,

"Are they coming?"

"No." he sneered, "Apparently they don't have any trucks available at the moment. The fuck kind of tow truck company is that?" he asked as the paced in front of her.

"But then … then that means were stuck here!"

"No shit, Captain Obvious."

"Don't be mean, Noah." Rachel said quietly, Puck stopped his pacing and look down at her. After a moment his face softened and his shoulders dropped as he breathed out,

"Sorry." he mumbled and then he reached out and wove his fingers in her hair before pulling her to him and pressing a kiss to her forehead,

"I'm sorry." he said again and Rachel rested her hands on his chest, enjoying the feeling of his fingers in her hair and his mouth pressed against her forehead.

"Noah … what are we going to do?" she asked and he sighed as he dropped his hand and took a step away from her,

"I dunno ..." he looked around and then it literally looked like a light bulb went off in his head, "We could uh … camp out? I have a sleeping bag."

"Only one?" Rachel asked as she cocked an eyebrow at him. He gave her a sheepish look before rubbing the back of his neck,

"Well … it fits two people." Rachel didn't want to dwell on why he had a sleeping bag that fit two people when he was only one person. She knew that he probably had it for when he had sex with girls in the back of his truck. She just hoped he had washed it since the last time.

"Okay."

– – – – – –

Puck watched as Rachel nibbled on a pretzel and sat bundled up in his sweater in the bed of his truck. They were sitting there, watching the sun set as he played his guitar and she sang along softly. A stray piece of hair had fallen in front of her face and before he could stop himself he reached over and tucked it behind her ear. She gave him a small smile before going back to munching on her pretzels.

"You're being quiet." he commented and she shrugged her shoulders as she tossed aside the pretzels and reached for a bag of Lays,

"I'm sorry I broke your truck." she said softly and he chuckled as he shook his head,

"It's okay. It was bound to happen sooner or later. I swear this thing is older than Mr. Schue." Rachel scrunched up her nose and Puck thought it may have been the cutest damn thing he'd ever seen,

"I don't think Mr. Schuester is _that _old."

Puck snorted, "That's right … you had that schoolgirl crush on him." Rachel threw a chip at him and he caught it in his hand and tossed it in his mouth,

"This is lame."

"I cannot believe that they won't have any trucks available until tomorrow morning."

Puck shrugged his shoulders, "Just another roadblock, right?"

"I suppose."

"Did you call your dads?"

"Yes, they said they were sorry and that they would pay to get your truck fixed." Puck nearly spit out the drink of soda he'd just taken,

"Whoa, Berry … that's a lot of money we're talking about."

"Puck … I killed your truck."

"Yeah well ..." he started but then nodded in agreement, "Good point." The sun was really close to disappearing and it was making the sky turn a whole bunch of crazy colors. Rachel tossed the bag of chips aside and then crawled over to him, settling her self between his outstretched legs with her back against his chest. It kind of freaked him out at first but she grabbed his arms and wrapped them around her and he decided that he liked the feel of her against him.

"I've never been to Disneyland before." he admitted and then rest his chin on the top of her head, "Tell me something." he murmured.

Rachel sighed, "What do you want to know?"

"I dunno … something you've never told anyone before." She was quiet for so long that Puck was sure she was just ignoring him but then …

"I've never truly felt attractive. Like ... pretty. My fathers always tell me that they think I'm beautiful but ... they're my dads, they're obligated to say that." she paused and sniffled a bit, "After being called Manhands and Rupaul so many times ... well you start to feel as unattrative as people tell you you are." she murmured.

And Puck, no homo, kind of felt his heart break. He wasn't expecting her to tell him something so personal. The whole thing kind of surprised him because he'd just always figured Rachel had been this bat-shit crazy chick since the day she was born, all confident and determined. Who knew she actually had feelings.

He was beginning to think about it too much so he ran his hand along the side of her jaw and up to cup her cheek, turning her head so that it was angled toward him before leaning down and pressing his lips to hers.

"You're pretty." he breathed and pressed feather light kisses against her cheeks, feeling the wetness there. She let out a little sob and turned around in his arms, kissing him hard. Her crying subsided after a minute of kissing and Puck moved so that he was hovering over her and she was laying on her back. He moved her hair out of her face and she smiled up at him,

"Thank you." she said quietly, he just shook his head,

"Rachel ... " she gave him a small smile but it wasn't enough for him, he ran a hand over her ribcage and down to her hip, "You are one hot Jew."

She giggled and smiled up at him and he felt like _the Man. _Which was a little weird for him because usually he only got that feeling after having sex with hot moms or scoring a touch down. Not after making a girl smile.

"You know … out of everyone I could have gotten stuck with out here in the middle of no where, I'm actually glad it was you." she said softly. Puck smiled and pecked her on the lips before rolling off her and then grabbing her hand and lacing their fingers together.

"Look at all the stars. You never see so many at home." she mused as they stared up at the nearly black night sky.

"Yeah." he agreed. They fell into silence and after awhile the silence turned to sleep. Puck was barely aware that he had curled himself around Rachel, pressing her back against his chest and pulling the sleeping bag over them.

– – – – – –

Puck woke up to the feeling of his phone vibrating in his pants pocket. It's scared the shit out of him and he nearly punched the back of Rachel's head, luckily he missed. He unzipped his side of the sleeping bag as quickly as he could without waking up Rachel and hopped out of the truck.

"Hello?" he hissed as he walked a few feet away from the truck so he wouldn't wake Rachel.

"Well, it's about time. I've been calling you for the past hour and a half." Quinn's annoyed voice said and he groaned inwardly, he should have checked the caller ID.

"Fabray." he greeted, "What can I do for you?"

"You can tell if you ever plan on showing up! Finn has been driving me crazy for the past five days, he keeps trying to tell me that I should name the baby after Disney characters." Puck snorted and then it got really quiet on the other end before Quinn spoke again,

"I thought you wanted to be a part of this baby's life." she said in her classic 'I'm Quinn Fabray and I'm Always the Victim' voice. Puck wasn't falling for it, he just rolled his eyes,

"I don't know what you want from me Quinn but I'm getting pretty damn tired of being jerked around by you. Either you want me to be the dad or not."

"But ..." and then she fucking sniffled, like she was crying, "It's just so hard."

"Whatever Quinn." he heard her scoff and he smirked, "Just text me updates. Because you know I want to be there." The line went dead and he wondered if she'd actually do it.

"Where'd you go?" Rachael asked as he crawled back into the sleeping bag with her.

"Bathroom, geez Berry." he muttered, she just nodded her head with a yawn and fell back asleep.

– – – – – –

The tow truck came early the next morning and he took them to the next city over to some auto shop called _Frank's._

"... and then I pressed on the break again and it just stopped working." Rachel explained to the mechanic's son, who was no Kurt Hummel.

"Wow, you know … I could teach you while we're waiting for your truck to get repaired. I'm really good at driving a stick." the kid, who had introduced himself as Brandon, said cockily, raising an eyebrow at her.

"I can drive a stick." Puck grunted and Rachel turned to look at him, grabbing his hand and lacing their fingers together,

"I know you can. And you were an excellent teacher. I guess I just wasn't a very good student." she ducked her head down and smiled and Puck glanced over at Brandon who was frowning at their hands. He sent the kid a smirk, just so he'd know.

Not that Puck had any right to stake his claim on Rachel. He just really didn't like the way the guy thought he could put the moves on her.

"How long is this gonna take?" Puck asked and Brandon shrugged his shoulders, not taking his eyes off Rachel,

"An hour, maybe two."

"Great. Well … we're gonna go make out now." he said as he dragged Rachel away. He heard her gasp and she smacked his arm,

"Noah!" She shrilled and he glanced at her over his shoulder, hoping that she wouldn't turn down his offer right in front of the dick who was trying to hit on her.

She was smiling.

-- -- --

Author's note: There is no longer the sunshine of a spotless mind reference. It didn't flow with the rest of the story so I altered it. that should teach me not to write and watch my favorite movie at the same time, everything gets all mixed up.

Thank you for reading!

-Nicole.


	8. Arizona

**THIS CHAPTER IS RATED M! **

Author's note: So I've come to the conclusion, after writing this, that I do not enjoy writing smut as much as I used to. Not to pleased with that particular scene in this chapter. That is all, please read and review!

Enjoy!

-Nicole

* * *

"_If it makes you happy … it can't be that bad! If it makes you happy- _Come on, Noah! Sing with me!" Rachel whined.

"No."

"Please!"

"No, this song is gay. Play some Guns and Roses, then I might sing with you."

"I love this song! Come on please … ?" Rachel asked with a pout and Puck rolled his eyes and then let out a long sigh,

_"If it makes you happy! It can't be that bad..." _he sang loudly and off key. Rachel giggled and reached over to peck him on the cheek,

_"If it makes you happy … then why the hell are you so sad? If it makes you happy, then it can't be that bad. If it makes you happy, then why the hell are you so sad?" _They sang together.

_"Bum bum bum bum ..." _Puck sang along with the beat and Rachel stuck her arm out the window, pretending that they were flying.

"Arizona is beautiful, isn't it?" she asked over the music as she took in the scenery around them. They were driving down the highway, surrounded on both sides by miles of bare land with a few beautiful rock formations scattered about.

"Sure." he answered and she sighed happily as they drove through the desert. Puck's truck was fixed and they'd been on the road for a couple hours and Rachel was floating happily. The song ended and she turned down the radio so that it was just a gentle hum in the background,

"I'm in a good mood."

"I can see that."

"No, really! This is just … great. We're a state away from California and apparently that boy found me attractive." she added, thinking back on Brandon. She had argued with Puck for over twenty minutes about whether or not he had been hitting on her.

Puck just laughed at her.

And then soon the open desert turned into more urban surroundings. The highway cut through a town and Rachel watched as the drove past all the buildings.

"Noah, look!" she cried, pointing out the car window at a tiny little restaurant that had the words _WAFFLE HOUSE_ above it in neon lights.

"What?" he asked, looking over and she pointed excitedly, "Seriously Berry? A waffle house?"

"You don't like waffles?" she asked with a frown and he shrugged his shoulders, "I've never been to a waffle house before." she hinted.

Puck sighed, "... Rachel, would you like to go to the Waffle House?"

"Why Mr. Puckerman, I think that's a wonderful idea. Thank you for offering."

– – – – – –

"These waffles are huge."

"I don't think I'm going to be able to eat it all."

"Oh no Berry, you wanted to take this little detour, you have to eat it." Puck said as he stabbed his own waffle with his fork.

"Here, eat the rest." she whispered loudly as she tried to shovel the rest of her waffle onto his plate. He stopped her fork with his,

"No!" he hissed, "Dude, I can barely finish mine."

"That's saying something." Rachel muttered dryly as she continued with her attempts to get her waffle onto Puck's plate.

"Dude, stop."

"I'm not a _dude_."

"Trust me, I'm well aware of that."

Rachel grinned, "Be a gentleman and eat the rest of my waffle." Puck eyed her waffle warily for a moment before groaning,

"I'll take half." he mumbled dejectedly. Rachel smiled happily and cut the waffle in half, sliding the bigger half onto his plate. He just rolled his eyes and took a huge bite,

"I never heard of pecan waffles before." he said around the mush in his mouth.

"Don't talk with your mouth full." Rachel scolded and he made a show of swallowing his food. She took a sip of her tea and let the warm liquid sooth her throat as she watched him eat. He looked like a little kid, trying to shove as much food in his mouth as possible. Rachel found herself thinking about how the last five days had been eye opening. She couldn't bring herself to think of what would happen when they finally got to California. Would things go back to how they were before? Where he ignored her and she preferred Finn over him? She wasn't sure she could do that, she liked where they were in that moment.

"Is it odd that I wish this road trip didn't have to end?" she asked quietly, tracing the rim of her mug with her forefinger.

"Huh?" he swallowed the food that was in his mouth, "You mean you don't want to get to California?" he asked and when she said nothing he leaned back in his seat, "Rachel Berry wanting to miss a chance to perform. I never thought I'd see the day."

"That's not what I'm-" she stopped herself, took in a deep breath and looked down, "I just … I'm enjoying spending time with you." When she looked up, Puck was studying her.

"Okay." he said after a moment. She frowned, he was being vague again. Puck motioned for their waitress to come over,

"Anything I can get you kids?" she asked, for once they got a waitress in her early sixties who Puck didn't _seem _to find especially attractive. But then again, Puck didn't exactly have any preferences when it came to sex.

"Yeah, we're passing through and we kinda wanna do the tourist thing. Got any suggestions?" he asked, surprising Rachel. The woman thought about it for a moment and Puck sent Rachel a wink, making her blush,

"Well, you could head out to the lake, it's a little ways up the freeway. They have a marina and you can rent canoes. It's a big tourist attraction, especially during the summer but, a lot of people check it out all year round."

Puck tipped his invisible hat, "Thank you, ma'am." he said charmingly. The woman smiled at him before leaving their check on the table,

"So what do you say, Berry?" he asked as he reached in his back pocket for his wallet, "You wanna be tourists for a day?"

She grinned, "Sure."

– – – – – –

"Remind me why we're doing this again?" Rachel hissed as she struggled to get comfortable in the narrow canoe. She had on a large life vest on that made it difficult for her to move. Puck had one too but, instead of being strapped on like hers was, it was lying on the floor of the canoe.

"I dunno. You're the one who wanted to be a tourist."

"I am not!"

"You are too!"

"We sound like petulant children!" Rachel snapped and Puck rolled his eyes, "The least you could do it put on your vest."

"Nah, that thing is for pussies."

"You're so crass." Rachel chided, Puck waggled his eyebrows at her suggestively and she reached over to smack him on the arm but that caused the boat rocked so she retracted her hand immediately.

"What happens if you fall in?" Rachel asked through her teeth as she peered over the side of the canoe. Puck frowned for a minute before shrugging,

"I dunno, let's find out." and before she realized what was happening, Rachel was being pushed into the cold water. She fell in with a splash and her life vest didn't exactly help, it just mostly got in the way of her trying to reach the edge of the boat.

"Puck!" she yelped after she spit out the water that had gotten into her mouth. He just grinned at her as she scowled.

"What was that for?"

"Dunno, just kind of a spur of the moment kind of thing."

"Well, don't just sit there! Help me back in the canoe!" she cried as she reached out to him. Puck chuckled as he moved to the edge of the boat to grab onto her arms. A brilliant idea for revenge came to mind and Rachel smiled at him mischievously. His eyes widened and he shook his head quickly as he tried to move away from her but she already had a good hold on his arm,

"Oh, no … Berry don't you-" he started but she yanked down on his arms and pulled him into the water with her. He still hadn't put on his life vest so he actually sunk down a little. He came back up five seconds later, whipping the water out of his eyes,

"What the hell! Dude, what if there's like some fucking … Lockness type monster shit going on down there?"

Rachel just shrugged her shoulders, "Now we're even." she smiled smugly and Puck narrowed his eyes at her before splashing a wave of water into her face.

"Hey!" she cried out as she tried to block the water from getting into her eyes. She retaliated by shoving the water in front of her into his face. He tried to turn his head away but he wasn't fast enough and got a mouth full of lake water.

"Yueegg!" he coughed out the water and then splashed her again, she then splashed him, a little more forcefully than before,

"Whoa Berry, take it easy." he said as he held up his arms to shield his face. She took in a deep breath and she felt his arm snake around her waist and then she was being tossed into the water. He didn't toss her very far but she landed on her back, the vest keeping her afloat,

"That wasn't very nice." she pouted and he barked out a laugh,

"Neither was pulling me into the lake." he reached out and grabbed her hand, pulling her towards him so she wouldn't float away. When she was vertical again, he placed his hands on her hips and Rachel sucked in a tiny breath. It was like every time he touched her, her skin lit on fire, even in the icy water.

"Hey." he said softly, a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. She licked her lips slowly and smiled back at him,

"Hey." and then she brought her hand through the water and sent a splash of water that hit them both, even though he got the most of it. He blinked away the water and started chuckling and the only thing she could think was _who is this person? _Because it wasn't the Noah Puckerman she knew.

"We should probably get back to land. Gotta get back on the road." he murmured as he reached over and grasped onto the side of the canoe.

She liked this Puck, she wanted to keep him with her. She had no idea how she was going to do that, seeing how as soon as they got back to the Glee club things would revert back to how they were before. Unless …

"Can we stay here tonight?" she asked suddenly and he dropped is hand from the boat, his brow furrowed in confusion,

"What?" Rachel just bit her lip, giving him what she hoped was a successful pouting face, "Uh … okay, if you want I guess." It sounded like a question so she nodded,

"Yeah, I want to."

Rachel was going to convince Puck that he wanted to be with her. Exclusively. With the one thing she knew Puck responded to the best.

Sex.

– – – – – –

So maybe it was a ludicrous idea. But really, who could blame her? Rachel wasn't exactly known for doing the normal thing. The normal thing in this case would have just been to ask Puck point blank if he would like to be her boyfriend.

Yeah, Rachel's mind didn't exactly work that way. Maybe it was because the only other boys who had expressed any remote interest in her were Finn, who was currently struggling with the realities of having a pregnant girlfriend and Jacob, who stalked her and posted nasty rumors about her on his blog, so she didn't really have an experience with the matter at hand. Rachel couldn't seem to fathom the idea that maybe Puck would just want to _be with her,_ without any bribing or convincing necessary.

That was probably why, as soon as they got into their room at the bed and breakfast that was right on the lake, Rachel pounced on him. He stumbled backwards and into the wall, banging his head with a loud thud.

"Fuck." he hissed as he rubbed a hand over the spot. Rachel gave a nervous giggle as she ran her hands over his chest, not sure if he was freaked out or not.

All he did was cock an eyebrow at her before ducking down and kissing her. Rachel smiled against his lips, happy that her plan might actually work.

But then he pulled away from her, "Dude, these jeans are starting to chafe." he muttered, shifting uncomfortably and Rachel glanced down at their wet clothes. Hers were also clinging to her body in a not so pleasant manner but she hadn't really cared.

"Oh." she murmured quietly before grabbing the hem of her shirt and yanking it over her head. Puck turned around so abruptly he nearly elbowed Rachel. She stared at his back for a moment before she realized that he was trying to be a _gentleman _and give her some privacy. She giggled and reached up to touch his shoulders, he turned his head slightly but didn't look at her,

"It's okay." she breathed, tugging on his arm. He turned slowly to face her and she felt her stomach flutter when he raked his eyes over her appreciatively.

On a whim, she grabbed his hand and pressed it against her left breast, over her bra. His Adam's apple bobbed violently as he stared down at their hands,

"Rach … what are you … what are you doing?" he rasped as he tore his eyes away from her chest and looked into her eyes. She tried to smile but all she wanted to do was kiss him,

"What does it look like I'm doing?" she asked as she stepped closer to him and reached behind her to unhook her bra. Puck started to move his had but as soon as her bra hit the floor she pulled his hand back. Sparks filtered through her veins as the feeling of Puck's palm on her breast made her whole body going into overload.

Then Puck dropped his hands and, as she opened her mouth to protested, grabbed her hips forcefully and pulled her against him. He plundered her mouth, his tongue sweeping along her lips, asking for access. Her hands seemed to have a mind of their own as they worked on the buttons of his shirt and then parted it. It hadn't even reached the floor before she tore her lips away from his and peppered kissed along his chest. His muscles rippled underneath her touch and she suddenly felt a strong wave of confidence crash over her.

Deciding to be daring, she bit at his nipple ring, tugging on it with her teeth. He groaned loudly and fisted his hand in her hair,

"You're killing me Berry." he said breathlessly and she smirked against his chest. Her fingers moved lower and came in contact with cold metal, his belt. She had just started to pull it off when he jerked away from her,

"Shit, I can't do this." he panted and put a few feet of distance between the two of them. Rachel frowned and took a step towards him but that only caused him to take another step back. Then her heart dropped into her stomach,

"Is it … I don't ..." she started, not sure what question she wanted to ask first, "Do you not find me … appealing enough?" she settled on. Puck blinked at her like she'd spoken a different language.

"The fuck kinda question is that?" he growled and then it was Rachel's turn to blink, "Of course I do!" he yelled, exasperated.

"Then I don't understand." she reached for his discarded shirt and tugged it on so that she wouldn't have to be rejected while she was half naked. That would be a level of humiliation Rachel would never be prepared for.

"Why are you doing this?" he asked, sounding a little desperate. Rachel frowned at him as she crossed her arms over her chest,

"Isn't this what you wanted?"

"No!" he scrambled to correct himself as a look of hurt flashed over her face, "I mean yes! But, no! Rach ..." he started, taking a step forward, this time she took a step back.

"Damn it." he muttered under his breath, " Look, what I'm trying to say is … fuck, I don't even know. Just … you're not this girl."

"This girl?" she asked flatly and he nodded as he looked at the ground, "What girl would that be?"

"The girl who has sex for the first time with some guy she doesn't even like." Rachel opened her mouth to protest but he cut her off,

"Sex might not be meaningful to me but … your first time should be with someone you love." after he said it he looked like he wanted to smack himself,

"Fuck, I sound like a chick."

"Can we clarify something please?"

"... What?"

"Okay, so you _do _want to have sex with me and you do find me appealing?"

"Well … yeah."

"But you're morally against it."

"I guess."

Rachel stared at him for a long time. Trying to decipher his actual motives behind rejecting her. Then a it all snapped into place,

"Does this mean … does this mean you care about me?" she asked, a smiling forming on her face. Puck glared at her,

"Fuck no."

She didn't believe him.

"I don't believe you." she walked up to him and wound her arms around his neck, "And here I was trying to seduce you into liking me."

"You were what?"

"It sounds completely irrational now, when I think about it but … I guess that by getting you to have sex with me I was hoping to convince you that we should continue with this budding relationship."

"You wanted to sleep with me because you thought it would make me _like you_?" he asked incredulously and then he snorted,

"You're retarded."

"Thank you." she deadpanned and dropped her arms but his arm snaked around her waist and he dropped a kiss on her lips,

"I already like you, Berry." he whispered and she felt herself breakout into goosebumps and heat pool between her legs. He leaned his forehead against hers, taking in deep breaths,

"Are you sure?" he asked softly and she nodded. He had her up in his arms before she knew what was happening. He laid her down carefully on the bed and pressed sweet kissed along her neck as he pulled off his shirt that she was wearing. He was being so un-Puck like and she panicked,

"Wait … Noah …" she gasped as his mouth trailed along the valley between her breasts. He pulled back, frowning and she sucked in a deep breath,

"I realize that I said I wanted this but I'm currently having seconds thoughts because I've never done anything like this before and I'm not too keen on how everything works and I just … I don't know." she paused when she noticed that he was looking at her, amused, "What are you thinking about?" she whispered and he dropped a kiss to her left temple,

"About how I'm gonna rock you're world."

"But Noah-"

"Just chill Rachel, we're not gonna have sex." he tugged down her jeans, taking her underwear with them,

"Then how-" she couldn't even remember how to speak after he carefully spread her legs apart and touched his mouth to her. She felt her eyes roll back in her head at the exquisite sensation that was his tongue lapping at her.

"Oh god." she breathed as he hands went out to grab onto the bedspread. She felt him smile against her, evoking a whole new feeling. His mouth was replaced with his fingers as he kissed his way back up her body, groaning softly as she gasped. He stroked and cupped and slipped his fingers inside her. She wanted to cry, she wanted to scream, she really wanted to kiss him.

He seemed to understand this because his mouth was pressed against hers in an instant. She could taste herself on his lips and that only seemed to make her more aroused. Her hands moved to grab his shoulders, holding onto him for dear life.

"Please." she begged, she was so close but he was avoiding the place she wanted him to touch most. She ground herself onto his hand, trying to create more friction. He changed pace and ducked down so that his mouth replaced his hand, which moved else where. Rachel felt his thumb flick against an extremely sensitive part of her and she felt the whole world start to spin. She heard herself scream as her whole body shuddered with her release.

"Ohhh ..." she sighed as she came down from her high. When she opened her eyes, Puck was smirking down at her, he looked very satisfied with himself,

"I can't feel my legs." she said dreamily, "Is that normal?" he just chuckled and rolled onto his back,

"Just so we're clear. This means we're dating, right?" she asked hesitantly, she felt Puck's arm brush against hers and she opened her eyes to see him propped up on one elbow, staring down at her with a sad expression on his face that was soon replaced with a soft smile,

"Yeah." he whispered and kissed her gently. She grinned at him and hooked her leg around his hip, forcing him back onto his back,

"Good ..." she murmured as she went to work on his belt, "Because now it's your turn."

– – – – – –

They didn't have sex. Rachel was tempted but she realized that he was right. She wanted to be in love for her first time. And while she liked Puck, a lot, she didn't love him. At least not yet.

They strolled down the line of vendor's booth at the marina, holding hands and Rachel was pretty sure that she might fall in love with him, _soon._ It felt so strange but so right at the same time and she was pretty sure that nothing could destroy her blissful state of mind,

"Oh!" she yelped and Puck turned to look at her, alarmed.

"What?" he asked, dropping the dream catcher he'd been inspecting.

"I forgot to call my dads!" she cried and he just rolled his eyes before fishing his car keys out of his pocket,

"I think I left my phone on the dash when we packed up the truck this morning." he explained and she reached up to peck him on the lips,

"Are you going to keep perusing?" she inquired, he shrugged his shoulders and she noticed him eying a few of the booth's a little bit down the way.

"Okay, I'll just wait for you by the truck."

– – – – – –

Puck's not a pussy. He's not pussy whipped. He's not whipped at all. He's not.

Or at least that's what he kept telling himself as he looked over a table where they were selling tiny skulls. Yet there he was, looking for a present to give to Rachel. He wasn't sure what was a good, 'Hey We Had Oral Sex Last Night and This is My Way of Saying We're Officially a Couple.' present but he had a feeling it wasn't a tiny skull with a bright orange mohawk.

"What are you looking for?" an elderly woman asked with a slight Irish accent as he passed by her booth. Puck shrugged his shoulder as he looked over the jewelry she had,

"A present for my girl."

"Anniversary present?" she asked, sweeping her arm over an arrangement of necklaces. Puck shook his head,

"Nah, kinda like a … just starting out present I guess." he mumbled, fingering the tiny charms on a bracelet. The woman sighed happily,

"Ah, new love." she tapped her chin thoughtfully for a moment before grinning at him, "I have just the thing." she grabbed a tray of rings from the table behind her and set them in front of her. She plucked a silver ring from it's velvet cushioning and handed it over to him.

"It's a Claddagh ring." he inspected the tiny ring, it had a heart in the middle with two hands on either side of it, holding it, and a crown on the top,

"Is it suppose to mean something?"

"Well yes, you see the two hands mean friendship, the … crown … is loyalty and the heart … is love." she explained, pointing to each thing as she went along.

"Whoa, that's a little deep there. I was aiming for something lighter like maybe a ..." he reached a brooch that was sitting in a bowl, "This thing."

"You don't give a woman a brooch unless she's your grandmother." the woman scolded and Puck dropped it back in the bowl,

"The ring doesn't mean anything fancy if you don't want it to. If worn the right way, it can simply mean that she belongs to you." she turned the ring in his hands so that the crown was facing away from him and the heart was pointing towards him, "Like that."

"That she belongs to me?" he marveled, nothing had ever really belonged to him in his whole life. Except like … his Xbox.

"Yes, sir."

"And it doesn't mean that I'm like … declaring my love for her or anything … just that I want to … date her?"

"Sure."

"Cool." Puck said as he dug his wallet out of his pocket and handed the ring back to the lady.

– – – – –

Puck jogged back to his truck, the little velvet baggy clutched tightly in his hand. He was nervous, what the fuck did he have to be nervous about?

When he walked up, Rachel was staring down at his cell phone, looking a little green in the face. He would have asked her what was wrong but he was too busy freaking out about what he was about to do.

"Hey." he greeted happily and shoved the bag into her free hand, "So I got this for you." he started as she untied the bag and pulled out the ring,

"It's a symbol of my current whippedness. Here ..." he said, grabbing the ring from her and slipping it on her right hand, middle finger, cause he was not about to look like he was proposing to Rachel Berry,

"You wear it like this and it means you belong to someone." Rachel stared down at the ring, not saying anything, and Puck was starting to get anxious,

"... That someone would be me ..." he said slowly and then he noticed that she was really pale now and she had his phone in death grip,

" … Rach, you okay?" he asked hesitantly, reaching out to touch her shoulder. She jerked away from him and then shoved the phone at his chest and stormed off. He reached out to catch it but it bounced off his hand and then into his other one,

"What?" he asked confused as he looked down at his phone. Then this sick feeling of dread washed over him.

1 new text from Quinn:

_U wanted updates so i just thought id let u no that ur spawn is pressing on my bladder. its very uncomfortable._

"Shit."

* * *

Extended Author's Note:

Don't hate me! D:


	9. California

Author's note: Thank you Katy for helping me with this chapter. I was seriously paranoid that everyone was OOC but she talked me through it. Anyways, this chapter is short because ... I'm not sure why. But, it's short and that bugs me so the next chapter will be long.

AND HOLY COW YOU GUYS I HAVE 400 REVIEWS! That made my day!

But please, keep reviewing and let me know what you think!

-Nicole.

* * *

Damn, she walked fast for a short person.

"Where are you going?" he yelled after her, keeping his distance because she looked really mad and her arms were flailing around as she walked.

"Far away from you!"

"You're being crazy!"

That did it. She whipped around so fast he was sure she gave herself whiplash. She actually looked _really_ scary when she was mad. And hot but it probably wasn't the best time to be thinking about that.

"I'm crazy!? You're … you're a liar!" she screeched and he would've winced but he was way too confused,

"What the fuck are you talking about? I never lied about anything." she scowled at him and he rolled his eyes, "It's not like you asked."

"And if I had would you have told me the truth?"

He thought about it for a moment before shrugging his shoulders, "Probably not."

Rachel's mouth dropped open in angry shock and she whipped back around, stalking away from him again.

"Why are you making such a big deal about this?" he asked, a little peeved because seriously, it wasn't even her problem. She turned around, walking all the way up to this time, and poked him in the chest. Hard.

"Because it is a big deal! Quinn's pregnant with _your _baby!"

"Yeah, thanks for the reminder!"

"Don't you think that you should have told me _before _we decided to be in a committed relationship or engaged in any type of sex?"

"Uh … no?" _Then you wouldn't have had sex with me, so to speak. _He didn't say that out loud, she was close enough to kick him in the balls and he liked his junk where it was.

"You're …" she couldn't seem a word bad enough so she just huffed loudly and stomped her foot before taking off again.

Rachel was always one for a dramatic exit. Except there was really no where to _exit to _on the side of the empty road. He just trailed after her, with his hands in his pockets.

"Would you please just get in the car so we can get back on the road?"

"No! I'm not going anywhere with you."

"Rachel … come on, this is ridiculous!"

"Screw you, you … jerk!" she cried, she was stomping her feet so hard into the ground that a cloud of dust floated around her.

He groaned loudly, "What are you gonna do? Walk all the way to California?!"

She faltered for a moment and he was pretty sure that he had won. And then she threw out her arm and extended her thumb, turning around to face him so that she was walking backwards. He gritted his teeth because there was no way in hell she was _hitchhiking_ to California. He could only imagine the line of creepy, perverted truck drivers who would kidnap her and turn her into their sex slave.

So he kind of … charged at her and grabbed her around the waist, hefting her over his shoulder before she had a chance to fend him off.

"Put me down!" she yelled, hitting his back with her tiny fists, "You neanderthal! I'll scream I swear!"

And she did. Loudly. He was pretty sure she caused his right ear drum to explode. Luckily there was no one anywhere near them that gave two shits about the screaming girl he had slung over his shoulder. So he continued his trek back to his truck without anyone trying to _save _Rachel.

"Help me! Save me!" she yelled loudly but her voice just seemed to disappear into the open desert. She continued to pound on his back and while it didn't hurt _a lot, _she definitely had some power behind her blows.

"I hate you!" she cried, she finally stopped hitting him but then she burst into tears. The words made his chest clench in an unfamiliar way and he rolled the shoulder that didn't have her on it in an attempt to get rid of the feeling.

It didn't work.

– – – – – –

It takes four and a half hours to get from Kingman Arizona to Anaheim California. It is the longest and most awkward four hours of Puck's life.

He never thought he'd see the day he _wanted _Rachel to talk to him. But she didn't, no matter how many times he tried. She just popped in her ear phones and ignored him.

For four hours.

By the time they got to the hotel that the rest of the club was staying at, he was pretty sure he was about to explode from the amount of tension that was pressing down on the both of them.

It didn't help any that the moment they pulled into the parking lot she tried to break his door of it's hinges. But it didn't open and then she started crying again and he felt like the biggest dick on the planet,

"Berry ..." he said slowly, reaching over and trying to calm her down but she just jerked away from him.

"Your door is stupid." she muttered as she continued to pull on the handle to no avail. He sighed deeply and ran a hand over his mohawk,

"Rach ..." She started to cry harder and he had no idea what to do, crying chick were never his forte.

"God, it's not opening!" she wailed as she began to tug more forcefully, Puck tried to reach over again but she swatted his arm away. He let it rest on the seat between them before he realized that if she kept going at the door like that she was probably gonna ruin it.

"Dude, Rachel!" he yelled and she looked over at him annoyed. That was good, annoyed Rachel he could deal with. Crying, sad Rachel not so much.

He let out a long breath and then reached across her, pretending that she didn't flinch when his arm grazed hers, and unlocked the door. She stared at it like it had offended her somehow before throwing it open and flinging herself from the car.

He locked up their stuff in the cab of his truck before following after her. What he can't seem to comprehend was why she was so pissed. It's not like any of the Quinn and baby drama happened while he was with her. It was totally pre-Rachel and the ridiculous road trip they had just taken.

When he walked up, all the Glee club was crowded around a shuttle bus and Rachel was hiding behind Tina and Mercedes. She had stopped crying but her eyes were all red and cheeks all puffy. Puck had barely taken a step towards her when Finn came into his line of vision, frowning,

"Hey, what's up with Rachel?" he asked and Puck glanced over at her, meeting her eyes. Why the fuck was she so sad? The way she was looking at him, you'd think he kicked her puppy.

"I dunno, chicks man." he said with an eye roll. Finn stared him down for like a minute, probably trying to see if Puck was telling the truth. So he just stood there solemnly, waiting for him to be done with his inspection.

"Are you sure you-"

"Puck, Rachel!" Mr. Schuester boomed happily as he walked out of the front office with Miss Pillsbury,

"Good, you're here. There's been a slight change of plans." he clapped his hands together, "We're going to be preforming today instead of tomorrow."

Puck groaned, he just drove halfway across the country. All he wanted to do was sleep. He glanced over at Rachel, waiting to see if she was gonna freak out because she was ill-prepared for the sudden change.

Instead she was looking anywhere but him.

– – – – – –

Puck gave his most lackluster performance since the time his mom forced him to be the apple in his elementary school's play about eating healthy. He ignored his mom for a week straight after that.

During their whole performance, he kept trying to catch Rachel's eye. But she was always conveniently in front of him or being spun around by Finn.

Stupid Finn.

Once or twice, he was close enough to reach out and grab her but he didn't want to make her even more pissed off at him by ruining the whole performance.

Then finally, as soon as she sang the last note of their last song, she looked over at him. He felt like a total chick because his breathing hitched and his chest did that annoying clenching thing again. He wasn't too sure how to apologize with his eyes but, he tried his best.

Apparently, it didn't work because the moment everyone started to move off the stage she bolted. He tried to follow her but with everyone walking in front oh him, she got lost in the crowd.

"You wanna go on Space Mountain?" Finn asked, appearing out of no where. Puck looked around him, searching the swarm of people for her but she was gone,

His shoulders slumped in defeat, "Sure."

And when Finn screamed like a girl, Puck didn't even laugh.

– – – – – –

After Finn had so rudely toyed with her emotions and stomped on her heart, Rachel promised herself that she wouldn't allow herself to be affected so easily by another boy.

Currently, that plan wasn't playing out too well.

Instead of joining the rest of the club in their festivities, she opted to go back to her hotel room and wallow. This plan worked out perfectly for most of the day until Quinn banged open the door,

"Here." she said, shoving the food at Rachel, "So you don't starve."

Whoever decided to make she and Quinn roommates was even crazier than Rachel. She took the food and gingerly lifted the lid, it was a cheeseburger.

"I told him that you would've wanted a salad. Aren't you like a health nut?" Quinn asked, sitting down on the bed opposite her as gracefully as she could with her protruding belly. Rachel set the food on the nightstand beside her and turned to face Quinn,

"Who?"

"Uh, Puck?" she said while she inspected her nails. Rachel's heart hurt at the mention of his name and then her gaze went straight to Quinn's stomach,

"I know the baby is Puck's." she said softly, so softly she wasn't sure if Quinn had heard her. But when she turned slightly green Rachel knew she had. Quinn looked like she might burst into tears and Rachel, for reasons unknown to her, felt sorry for her,

"I won't tell anyone ..." she murmured and Quinn glanced up at her hopefully, "But what you're doing is wrong. You should at least tell Finn."

That made Quinn stand up and glare down at Rachel, who would normally be scared but she couldn't seem to bring herself to care at the moment.

"Why? So you can have Finn for yourself?" she snapped and Rachel blinked at her dumbly. _Was_ that the reason? No, she hadn't even considered that possibility. She had been too wrapped up in her dilemma with Puck to think about Finn.

"No! Because he deserves to know!" she cried, flinging the blankets off herself and standing in front of Quinn, "You're lying to him and to be honest, I'm a little astounded at your selfishness!" She and Quinn were nearly touching noses, that's how close they were.

"I don't think this is any of your business." Quinn hissed, trying to pull off her usual icy facade but Rachel could see right through it. Somewhere, behind the angry bitch in her eyes, was a scared little girl.

"You're right." she took a step back, shaking her head, "It's really not." Rachel went to crawl back into her bed but she wasn't done putting in her two cents. She bit her lip and looked down at the ground to the right of Quinn,

"But you should know that Noah isn't this loser you make him out to be. He's actually a nice … sweet … sensitive ..." Quinn rolled her eyes and Rachel admitted to herself that the sensitive thing might be overkill, "He's a good person and I'd think he'd make a great dad. Granted, no one that young should be a father." She let her words seep in for a moment and when Quinn simply raised an eyebrow at her, she sighed deeply and flopped back down on her bed.

"Thanks for the cheeseburger. It'll go straight to my thighs." she muttered and Quinn scoffed loudly before storming out of the room. Rachel picked at the fries next to the burger, calculating how many calories per fry there were.

"What are you doing here?"

"I just ..." Rachel's head snapped up when she heard his voice, "Is she here?"

"Rachel, you have a visitor." Quinn called and then she heard the door slam shut and then Puck shuffled into view, carrying all her bags.

He didn't look miserable at all. That only made her feel worse because there she was, moping over him and he didn't even have the courtesy to look sorry.

"You left this in my truck." he said quietly, setting down her bags next to her bed. She stuffed a french fry in her mouth, if she was eating then she couldn't talk to him. He just stood there, not saying anything and she wanted nothing more than to smack him.

"Look, I know you're still pissed off." and she was, she just wasn't really sure why. Puck _had _been completely honest with her.

Kind of.

She hadn't actually asked if he was the father of Quinn's baby. And the whole ordeal happened before they became romantically entangled.

But it still hurt, a lot. For a reason she couldn't place. If she thought about it enough, she was sure she could figure out why.

She didn't want to think about it. Thinking about it would just make her more miserable.

"What do you want?" she heard herself ask, surprising herself.

"Fuck if I know."

"Come back when you do."

"Rachel ..." he started, moving to sit down on the edge of her bed. She shrank away from him, bringing her knees to her chest,

"Can you just … can you just leave me alone for a bit?" she asked tiredly. He looked like he wanted to argue with her but, thankfully he decided against it and just nodded.

"Night, Berry."

"Good night, Noah."

– – – – – –

Puck leaned against his truck, waiting for Rachel. He had spent the whole night arguing with Quinn, who was pissed off because Rachel had found out about the baby.

Apparently, he shouldn't have let Rachel use his phone.

Whatever, he was tired now and he really just wanted to get back on the road and go home. And then Rachel came out with Finn, who was carrying all her stuff and he felt a _tiny _pang of jealousy hit him in the gut. Rachel surprised him by walking right up to him,

"Hey." he said hoarsely and she gave him a hesitant smile, "You ready to go?" he asked as he watched Finn load her stuff onto the bus.

She cleared her throat, "I think that it would be better for both of us if I road the bus home."

"What? No, come on ..." he tried, pushing himself up off his truck. He needed that time to try and get her to forgive him without actually apologizing. Mostly because he still wasn't sure what he was supposed to be sorry for.

It was Quinn's secret to tell. Not his. And she had practically threatened to cut off his balls if he told anyone. So really, he wasn't trying to _deceive _Rachel, he was just protecting his manhood.

"Finn told me he'd ride with you."

"I don't wanna ride with Finn. I wanna ride with you." he pouted, reaching out to tuck a loose strand of hair behind her ear. His stomach did a funny little flip flop when she leaned into his touch slightly.

"... Noah ..." she sighed, "I don't -"

"Hey! Ready to go?" Finn asked loudly, jumping up next to them. Puck dropped his hand and Rachel took a couple steps back.

"Uh ..."

"You boys have fun." she bit out and then hurried over to the bus. Without really thinking about it, Puck reached over and punched Finn on the shoulder,

"What the hell? What'd I do?" he whined as he rubbed the spot that Puck had just hit. Puck shrugged his shoulders,

"Nothing, I just missed you, man."

"That hurt ..." Finn muttered, rolling his shoulder back, "Hey, did something happen with you and Rachel?"

Puck's heart dropped into his stomach, "No, not really. Why?"

Finn frowned, "She just looked really … sad. I hate it when she's sad. Just kinda makes everything else seem lame." he explained as he got into the truck.

"Yeah ..." Puck said absently as he watched Rachel board the bus. She glanced over her shoulder at him once before she got on.

Maybe there was hope for him yet.

(Roadtripping with Finn isn't nearly as fun as it was with Rachel.)


	10. Epilogue: Home

**For Jess, because my Sundays are her Mondays.**

_Have a heart that never hardens, and a temper that never tires, and a touch that never hurts._

_ Charles Dickens_

_-- -- -- -- _

He goes to find Rachel the moment he gets home.

Or at least he tries to.

Finn and Puck actually beat everyone else and that's how he ends up sitting on her front porch, talking to her dads about whether he preferred cashmere to angora.

When Puck asks them if they meant the song by Led Zepplin they kindly tell him Rachel won't be back for another hour and leave him alone. But not before he asks them if they mind if he picks her up.

She's going to talk to him whether she wants to or not.

And so he waits for the bus to pull into the school parking lot, leaning against his truck and having an internal debate about what he actually wants to say.

He's still not too sure when the bus shows up and everyone clambers off. Rachel gets off last and he waits for her to see him standing there.

She does. And she doesn't look to pleased.

"What are you doing here?" Straight to the point, with her hands on her hips and her luggage sitting behind her.

"Your dads asked me to pick you up."

"I very much doubt that."

He sighs tiredly because he doesn't want her to argue with him, he just wants her to get in the car so he can try and figure out what the hell is going on between the two of them.

"Please Rachel? Just get in the car."

He said please and it works.

But soon finds out that just because she's sitting in his car doesn't mean she's going to talk to him. So Puck does all the talking for once in his life,

"I'm sorry." he says through gritted teeth as he drives her home, "I don't know what for but I'm sorry." She makes this annoyed sound in the back of her throat and it kind of pisses him off so he snaps,

"Do_ you_ even know why you're mad at me? Can you tell me why you're busting my balls over this?"

Rachel just looks down at her hands in her lap and he thinks she's going to start crying again. So he bites his tongue,

"Just forget it." he mutters as he pulls into her driveway, "Let's just pretend this didn't happen. You can go back to drooling over Finn and I can go back to being McKinley's number one stud." he doesn't say it with his usual smirk and condescending tone.

Instead he just sounds lame. And he's not even trying to be pathetic.

He just is.

She hesitates before getting out and he waits for her to tell him that's she's being a complete retard about the whole thing and that she wasn't mad at him for no reason anymore.

Instead she says, "You're an idiot." and barely remembers to grab her stuff as she bolts from his truck.

What really sucks is that the only thing he can think about is that he probably made her cry again.

When did he turn into such a pussy?

It's probably a dumb idea but, he heads over to Tammy or Cammy or whatever her name is house after he drops her off.

He's in need of a good time with no strings attached.

(He mostly does it because he feels the need to redeem himself after letting Berry push him around for the past week. There's a tiny part of him that does it because he hopes it'll make him forget the mess he's made.)

– – – – – –

About two weeks after the whole road trip fiasco, Finn finds out. And it's not exactly how Puck expected him to. He kept waiting for Rachel to open her mouth and blab about it but, instead it was Quinn. Even though she swore she'd go to her grave saying that baby was Finn's. (Even if it did have an awesome mohawk)

So he's totally surprised (and then kind of not) when Finn shoves him against the row of lockers outside of his 5th period history class and asks him if it's true.

Of course, Puck knows what he's talking about but he's gonna play dumb because … well he doesn't really wanna get punched in the face. But Finn chooses then, of all times, to finally smarten up and realize that Puck's lying.

Puck ends up nursing a black eye out on the bleachers for the rest of 5th period and most of lunch. It stings but Finn could have done way worse. He should have done worse.

When Rachel plops down next to him and hands him an ice pack he's actually kinda shocked because she hasn't said two words to him since they got back.

"Thought you'd be all over Finn by now. This is what you've been waiting for, isn't it? For him to break it off with Quinn so you can throw yourself on him?" he grunts but she seems completely unfazed by his words.

She must know he doesn't mean them.

Damn it.

"I'm kinda surprised you didn't tell him first." he admits after it's been quiet for too long. She shrugs her shoulders,

"I remember the rules."

But he doesn't. He has no idea what the hell she's talking about. His confusion must be stamped across his forehead because she gives him a small smile,

"Rule number one, talking is kept to a minimum. Rule number two, don't touch the radio. And finally rule number three, 'if we get to California alive, we will never speak of what happened on our little road trip'" she finishes, quoting him exactly and ticking off on her fingers as she spoke. Puck's words hit him in the face like an anvil.

Why was he always such a dick?

"So … I thought about it ..." she starts and he feels like what she's about to say is going to make his head hurt even worse but he sticks it out for whatever fucking reason, he doesn't know.

"And don't interrupt me!" she snaps just as he's about to open his mouth and spew out some really stupid shit that would probably earn him a swift kick in the balls.

"But I realized that my aversion to our entire situation has little to do with the fact that you're having a child with another girl and more with the fact that that girl is Quinn."

What?

"Huh?"

She sighs, clearly frustrated with his thickheadedness and rests her elbows on her knees, "Why is it always Quinn? It is just predetermined fate that she is always going to have everything I want? She has Finn, well _had _Finn. People like her," Puck snorts at this and Rachel rolls her eyes, "Or at least they pretend too. And just when I finally thought I was going to get something that she didn't have and that I wanted ..." she trails off and looks out at the field,

"It's just always going to be Quinn."

"So wait … let's rewind for a sec. You're not mad that I got another chick pregnant … you're just mad because that chick is Quinn?"

"Didn't I just say that?_ Obviously_ my initial hurt was more about the fact that I trusted you and you kept this big secret from me. Then after that sunk in … it was more that … Quinn is always going to have everything that I want."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa ..." what the fuck was she talking about? "Quinn doesn't _have _me."

"She's carrying your baby!"

"So?"

Rachel gives him this pitying look and he's not dumb but he has no idea what the hell is going on.

Because seriously? Rachel's train of thought does not follow that of a normal persons and he feels like she had most of their conversation in her head. So what if Quinn's carrying his baby? He doesn't have to fucking marry her.

… Right?

"I cannot, once again, become romantically entangled with a boy who is emotionally attached to Quinn Fabray." she says stiffly and stands.

Fuck being romantically entangled and emotionally attached, Puck thinks, he _actually likes_ this girl. Like to the point where he doesn't just want to hump and dump her.

Even though he'd never admit that out loud.

Maybe that's his problem because he just sits there like a fucking idiot as Rachel walks away.

– – – – – –

As far as coming up with genius plans to win back chicks goes, Puck has never had much experience. What he's good at is coming up with elaborate plans to get into a girls pants.

Obviously, he's never wanted to win back a chick before. Unless you count Quinn but, he never actually _had _her in the first place.

So as he sits in his truck outside of Rachel's house, he thinks that this may be considered stalking more than winning her back. Because he's _just _sitting there.

He doesn't even know why. One minute he was driving over to Santana's house for a quickie and the next he's turning down Rachel's street and parking his ass in her driveway. His brain has become really fucking warped if he's picking sitting in his car like some loser over getting a blow job.

Puck nearly jumps out of his skin when Rachel taps on the window, all bundled up in a big sweater. She waits as he rolls down the window before going on her tirade.

"My neighbor called to tell me that a suspicious looking truck was parked in my driveway and that, if I would like her to, she'd gladly call the police."

"Uh ..." he starts, not really sure how he wants to finish. He remembers her stupid neighbor from the time she caught them making out in his truck for that _brief _week that they dated. She had spouted off some bullshit about remaining pure in the Lord's eyes before Puck told her that they were Jewish.

"What do you want, Noah?"

"I dunno."

He's a dope. A huge fucking dope.

"Then will you please stop loitering on my property?" She starts walking back up to her house. He takes a moment to mentally smack himself for what he's about to do and then stumbles out of his truck.

"Wait!" he forgot to take off his fucking seat belt and the stupid thing has him in a death grip, "Damn it, Berry." he hisses as he snaps the thing off and slams his door shut,

"Look, you can't act like that whole week didn't happen just because you have self-esteem issues."

Wrong fucking thing to say.

Rachel's mouth drops open and hurt flashes across her face closely followed by rage.

He wishes life had a rewind button.

"You … rude … inconsiderate … jerk!" she turns around and stalks up the front steps of her porch with so much vigor he's surprised she doesn't stomp holes through the wood. He scrambles to walk after her,

"Wait! That's not what I-"

"Puck!" she cries and he halts, "Just go home." she pleads, her eyes are all wet like she's gonna burst into tears at any moment.

"Christ Rachel, what the hell do you want me to do?" Other than go home of course because he already got that message loud and clear.

"Try to stop being such an ass!" she grounds out and then disappears into her house, slamming the door so hard that the windows shake.

Puck doesn't even know if that's possible.

– – – – – –

Puck has never been one for grand romantic gestures. So what he does is this.

First he helps out Quinn. Finn won't give her the time of day and he figures it's about time he steps up to the plate and reminds her that he's_ the man_.

He takes her to the doctors and goes on crazy food runs at 4 AM in the morning. She's_ seems_ appreciative, even if she chooses staying with Britney over him. Apparently, that's a line she's not willing to cross.

Whatever, at least she's letting him help.

Then there's Rachel.

He debates about serenading her but he's already done that and it's kind of played out. He'd buy her a slushie and _not _throw it in her face but damn, he's already done that too.

Since his first two ideas were shit, he hopes that when he does his best imitation of Kenickie from Grease and slings his arm over her shoulders as they walk into school one day, she'll act like nothing changed since they were in Arizona.

Sadly, that doesn't work out and she elbows him in the gut before storming off to her first period.

What Puck does next is inspired by being forced to watch Say Anything with his mother one lonely Saturday afternoon. Because with Quinn carrying his baby but refusing to sleep with him and Rachel being embedded in his brain, his cojones have been _very _lonely.

He's not gonna stand outside her bedroom window with a boom box because her annoying neighbor might call the cops. Instead he slips a mixed CD into her locker that he spent all morning making and he barely made it to school on time because of it.

"You're a pig!" Rachel shrills as she throws it back in his face after school. He had a feeling putting Eazy-E's _I'd Rather Fuck You_ as the first song was a bad idea.

"What! I was trying to be romantic!" he calls after her, "I bet you didn't even listen to the whole thing!"

Rachel throws him a glare over her shoulder, "Why would I want to after that!"

Because he totally slipped _Sweet Caroline_ in there as the last track! Of course, he doesn't get a chance to tell her that, she's already gone.

-- -- -- -- -- --

None of his plans were working.

-- -- -- -- -- --

It was time to resort to drastic measures.

He's surprised because it's Quinn who comes up with the idea.

Quinn's a fucking genius.

"I'd say I love you but I know that'd totally freak you out." he says, patting her on the shoulder as he waits for Rachel to walk into Glee. He's standing outside with Quinn and some random Cheerio she threatened into helping them with their little plan.

"Whatever." she mutters, shoving his hand off her shoulder and walking into the choir room. The Cheerio, some sophomore, looks nervous as hell and Puck's kind of worried that she's gonna blow the whole thing.

"Look, all you have to do is get up on this ..." he motions to himself and the girl bites her lips and nods, "It shouldn't be that hard for you. I'm sexy as hell." he adds with a wink and the girl blushes bright red.

Oh yeah, he's still got it.

When Rachel rounds the corner, he nudges the girl with his elbow and before he knows it she's throwing herself on him. He grabs onto her shoulders, holding her at arms length,

"Whoa there ..." he looks up at Rachel, who is watching the whole thing go down intently, "In case you haven't heard, the Puckerone is officially off the market. I've taken a vow of celibacy so, you'll have to get your rocks off somewhere else." he says loudly and pats her on the head. He's glad that she remembers to run off down the hall, sobbing.

Unfortunately, instead of throwing herself into his arms, Rachel just rolls her eyes and breezes past him into the choir room.

Still, he notices her smiling at him every time she doesn't think he's looking.

– – – – – –

In the end, what it all boils down to is this.

Puck fucked up.

He knows it, the whole world knows it.

And there's not a whole lot he can do about it. Other than repent.

But what's he's been doing lately is edging farther away from repenting and closer towards being really fucking pathetic. He's tried everything and Rachel is _still _not talking to him. And there's only so much he can do before his balls fall off. Puck is pretty close to giving up. And the whole road trip is like a distant memory or some weird dream he had that's fuzzy around the edges.

"What are you doing?" he looks up from the slushie he's been staring down at for the past five minute to see Rachel standing in front of him. She doesn't _look _mad but with her you can never be too sure.

"What does it look like I'm doing?" he asks stiffly, not bothering to push himself off the locker he's leaning against.

Rachel sighs, "Noah ..." he looks back down at his slushie because he has a feeling he's not going to like what she's gonna say.

Of course, Rachel has to surprise the shit out of him once again and kiss him.

He doesn't even realize that he drops his slushie.

"What ..." he trails off, thoroughly confused as he stares down at her. Her eyes are still squeezed shut and she's licking her lips.

"I'm sorry." she breaths and he brushes her hair out of her face.

"For what?"

"For ignoring you. I was just working through some … personal issues and I know that you've been trying lately but I was just ..." she finally opens her eyes and she's looking at him in a way she's _never _looked at Finn. It's like a thousand times better.

Rachel reaches for the chain that she has around her neck and tugs it out of her shirt. And then he grins because on the end of it is the ring he gave her.

"I haven't taken it off since you gave it to me." she explained, pulling the necklace up over her head, "And I don't want to seem presumptuous but ..." she pulls the ring off the chain and slips it onto her middle finger, "I'd really like it if we could be-"

She doesn't get to finish because he's entirely too busy kissing her.

– – – – – –

In the end,

Puck loses his best friend

(But if he can get Rachel to forgive him, Finn should be easy.)

His daughter gets adopted.

And they place second at Regionals.

It takes a crazy road trip and a whole lot of growing up,

But, for once, he gets the girl.

So fuck the rest.

* * *

Author's Note: So it's finished! The last chapter, I hope I didn't disappoint!

Special thanks once again to Katy for putting up with me and helping with this. Without her, I probably wouldn't have been able to finish this.

And thanks to Owl City! Because I totally listened to Fireflies on repeat the entire time I was writing this story. (It's weird but I listen to that song whenever I write for Puck.)

And just thank you to everyone who reviewed, you guys are awesome and you seriously make my life. And I think you should all join me over on the Glee fanforum at the Puckleberry thread so we can talk because I'm going to be on hiatus for awhile (I know I always say this and end up posting something a few days later but I'm serious this time!) and I want to be able to talk to you guys about Glee!

So this was my story and I hoped you like it, it's been a blast writing it.

Thanks for reading and maybe reviewing?

And ... that is all!

-Nicole. :)


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